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WINNIPEG — The leader of Manitoba's New Democrats is promising to reopen a health centre that provided specialized care for menopausal women if his party wins the Oct. 3 provincial election. 

Wab Kinew says his party would spend $5 million to build a new Mature Women's Centre at the Victoria General Hospital in Winnipeg and will provide $2 million in annual funding. 

The previous centre was closed in 2017 as part of the governing Progressive Conservatives budget cuts to the health-care system. 

The facility provided one-stop services for menopause transition, hysterectomy alternatives and other gynecological care. 

The New Democrats have focused much of their campaign on health care, including a promise to reopen the emergency room at Victoria hospital and two others in Winnipeg. 

Kinew says the NDP is also committed to expanding pharmaceutical coverage for medications that are used to prevent osteoporosis and improve the lives of mature women.  

A new women's hospital opened under the Tories at the Health Sciences Centre in 2019 for inpatient and outpatient obstetrical, surgical and medical services. 

The hospital provides the majority of acute gynecologic surgical procedures in the province. 

The Progressive Conservatives told local media in 2021 they were open to reviving the Mature Women's Centre. 

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 14, 2023. 

The Canadian Press