The Manitoba government is planning to set up two committees as part of its promise to improve health care.

A bill now before the legislature would set up one group to come up with appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios and recommend which areas of health care, such as intensive care units, would be subject to the numbers.

Another bill would allow the health minister to set staffing and other benchmarks for health providers, with the aim of ending mandatory overtime for nurses.

The bill would allow for a committee to advise the minister on how to proceed.

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The NDP government has promised to bolster nursing ranks, and Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara says the bills set a framework to accomplish those goals.

The Opposition Progressive Conservatives say health-care unions have raised questions about whether there are enough workers to meet the government’s goals.

Asagwara said the NDP government has hired more nurses and other health care professionals, and the bills will help improve patient care.

“We’re saying very clearly to nurses and to health-care providers and the system as a whole that patient safety and the quality of care … must be a top priority,” Asagwara said.

The government has been examining similar moves undertaken in British Columbia, Asagwara said.

If the bill is passed into law and guidelines are set to eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses, overtime would still be allowed in certain circumstances, such as a scenario in which a patient’s life or health is at imminent risk, or in a major disaster.

Tory health critic Kathleen Cook said details of the government’s plan are still lacking.

“We need to make sure that these bills are more than symbolic,” she said.