Cataract Surgery
Cataract surgery is performed in the Prairie Mountain Health, Southern Health-Santé Sud and Winnipeg regional health authorities. Ask your surgeon where you are having your cataract surgery.
What is Cataract Surgery?
A cataract is a small cloudy area in the lens of the eye that blocks the passage of light to the retina. Cataract surgery is the removal of the cataract and implantation of an artificial lens to correct vision loss.
Cataract Surgery Wait Times
| Regional
Health Authority |
Facilities |
Median
Wait Time (in weeks) |
| Prairie Mountain Health | Brandon Regional Health Centre | 23 |
| Minnedosa Health Centre | 8 | |
| Swan Valley Health Centre | NS1 | |
| Southern Health-Santé Sud | Portage District General Hospital | 24 |
| Winnipeg | Misericordia
Health Centre |
12 |
| Western Surgery Centre | 9 | |
|
Data for September 2022 |
||
1 N/S = No service provided.
Information on this page reflects wait times for every patient awaiting cataract surgery in Manitoba whether they are waiting for surgery on the first eye or second eye. Wait times indicated here are median, which means they represent a mid-point; some wait times are longer than those indicated, while others are shorter.
Some factors that contribute to wait times:
- there is generally a longer wait for surgery for the first eye than there is for the second - the wait times on this page represent a median of both.
- patient wait times vary by surgeon. If your condition or circumstances change while waiting for surgery, it may be advisable to contact your ophthalmologist to discuss your priority for surgery, or contact your optometrist or family physician to request a referral to an ophthalmologist with a shorter wait time.
Cataract Surgeries Performed
| Regional
Health Authority |
Facilities |
Number of surgeries performed (per month) |
2022/2023 Fiscal Year to Date1 |
2021/2022 Fiscal Year1 |
| Prairie Mountain Health | Brandon Regional Health Centre | 75 | 443 | 1,108 |
| Minnedosa Health Centre | 25 | 189 | 479 | |
| Swan Valley Health Centre | NS2 | 131 | 429 | |
| Southern Health-Santé Sud | Portage District General Hospital | 11 | 130 | 203 |
| Winnipeg | Misericordia Health Centre | 728 | 4,388 | 5,474 |
| Western Surgery Centre | 480 | 2,842 | 5,108 | |
| Manitoba Total | 1,319 | 8,123 | 12,801 | |
|
Data for September 2022 |
||||
1 Fiscal year is April to March.
2 N/S = No service provided.
Cataract Surgery Historical Information
Historical data for the previous 13 months is available by clicking the link below:
View the historical information here - PDF 
View the historical information here - Excel 
