The MLA for Steinbach is hopeful a bill he introduced earlier this month will pass final reading this week.

Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says the bill would allow someone other than a police officer to wait in a hospital when somebody is brought in under a mental health order. Goertzen explains 

(Steinbach MLA Kelvin Goertzen) currently police officers are bringing individuals to a hospital and then getting caught having to wait. That officer must wait with the individual until seen by a medical professional.

"That means that those police officers are sitting there and waiting in an emergency room or in another sort of medical facility when they really should be back out on to the street and in our communities to do the job that most people would be expecting them to be doing," says Goertzen.

According to Goertzen, officers can sometimes wait for hours, but he says whether it is fifteen minutes or two hours, police officers have many other things they should be doing instead of sitting in a hospital and waiting for somebody to be getting medical attention.

Even if or when the legislation is approved, Goertzen says it will still take some time to implement. That is because measures will need to be taken to ensure there are properly trained individuals available to sit with these patients.

"That will mean getting a training program in place and then designating individuals who can do that work," notes Goertzen. "But it's certainly something we want to start early in our mandate and hopefully can progress as quickly as possible on it."

Goertzen says this is his first bill he is bringing forward since being named Health Minister. He says there is a lot of support from all parties and he would be surprised if the bill does not pass this week.