It is hard not to be impressed with the construction of the new Manitoba Clinic at the Health Sciences Centre. For those that travel down Sherbrook or Notre Dame, it looms from a great distance but up close looks more attractive than renderings of what it would look like showed. At 10 floors. it fills up the space occupied by a Shell gas station completely. The basement and first floor house a variety of health related services while the the next three floors provide parking.
The floors from 5 to 10 will house the Manitoba Clinic doctors and specialists offices. The old yellow building built in 1955 was to be demolished for the CancerCare expansion but that appears to be on hold now. The Manitoba Clinic is one of the largest and oldest private health clinics in Canada with a variety of doctors and specialists working of that location. Latest numbers are around 75 physicians.
The Manitoba Clinic started as the MacCharles Surgical Clinic in 1936 and became the Manitoba Clinic in 1946. It moved to the present Health Sciences campus in 1955 and was hugely influential on the development of appointments at the hospital. The Manitoba Clinic along with other clinics in the city represented in many cases family dynasties in the healthcare field.
The entrance to the clinic will face back towards the hospital in part to assist in drop off and pick ups. Still, the building despite the lack of Notre Dame doors has an attractive street presence in part because of the windows and its design.
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The views from those windows is a full city view looking east and an airport view looking west. It is nothing short of spectacular.
It is important to note that Manitoba Clinic is private and yet is an important part of the HSC campus which includes the University of Manitoba medical, dental, nursing and other heathcare schools connected to the various hospitals comprising the downtown space.
The old parking lot which raised its fees to cover the costs of the new building kicked off some controversy. However, unlike the other parking lots of the campus, this one is not a hospital lot and paid for by the doctors themselves.
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Parking is always going to be an issue of one of the larger hospital campuses in Canada. This will always be the shortcoming of a central location. However, if transit options become more attractive, it could also make for an even busier hub in years to come.
No word on when the grand opening of the Manitoba Clinic will be but expect a big announcement soon with even more details about its history and function.
