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Staff at a COVID-19 unit at the Health Sciences Centre in Winnipeg on Dec. 8, 2020.Mikaela MacKenzie/The Canadian Press

A Winnipeg hospital official says another nurse has resigned from a sexual assault examination program, and other health-care professionals are stepping in to fill the gap.

Jennifer Cumpsty, the executive director of acute health services at the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre, says doctors and nurse practitioners are pitching in while new nurses are being trained.

The Manitoba Nurses Union has been sounding the alarm for several months over the program’s staffing.

It said earlier this year that some sexual assault victims were being told to not shower and to come back later, because no one was available to examine them.

With the latest resignation, seven of the 13 casual nurses in the program have quit in recent days.

Cumpsty says the program has been moving to operate round-the-clock with permanent staff instead of the casual nurses, and newly hired permanent nurses will start being in place by early June, following training.

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