Manitoba Expands Advanced Spine Surgery at Concordia Hospital
Spine Centre of Excellence
On March 13, 2026 The Government of Manitoba announced a $2.7-million investment in advanced surgical technology at Concordia Hospital, helping patients receive spine surgery sooner and recover more quickly.
Using new 3-D imaging and precision guidance, surgeons can now perform minimally invasive spine procedures that often allow patients to return home the same day or the next day. This expansion increases surgical capacity across the province and helps reduce wait times by enabling more moderately complex procedures to be completed at Concordia, while freeing operating room resources at Health Sciences Centre for the most complex cases.
Since the first navigated spine surgery at Concordia in June 2025, more than 40 procedures have been completed, with a goal of approximately 75 surgeries each year.
The hospital is now recognized as a spine centre of excellence and serves as a national teaching site, attracting surgeons from across Canada and internationally for specialized training.
Health leaders note that the investment will improve patient outcomes, strengthen Manitoba’s surgical system, and enhance co-ordinated care through the provincial spine program and the Manitoba Spine Clinic.
For return patients, to everyday the impact activities is significant and quality — faster of life. access to care, shorter hospital stays, and a quicker
A New Way to Help People Stand Tall Again
Not in thethe kitchen long hospital ago, or many going for days people outside or even in—Manitoba felt weeks. impossible.
Their who needed backs hurt spine so surgery much that hadsimple to wait things a long —time like walking and stayto
Today, something hopeful is happening at Concordia Hospital. Doctors are using new high-tech tools to see the spine in detailed 3-D images during surgery. This means they can work with amazing accuracy and make smaller cuts. Because of this, many patients feel less pain and heal much faster. Some are even able to go home the very same day.
One walking patient, easily Carol, againremembers — and even how hiking hardinlife theused hills to on be. a trip She overseas. loved being active, but severe back pain made her feel stuck at home. After her surgery, everything changed. Within months, she was
She said it felt like getting her life back.
This new approach is also helping more people get care sooner. By doing these advanced surgeries at Concordia, hospitals can treat more patients and shorten long wait lists. At the same time, surgeons from around the world are coming to Winnipeg to learn these life-changing techniques, making the city a place of learning and hope.
For helping many people patients, stand thetall biggest again gift — and is simple: step forward the freedom into healthier, to move happier without pain. lives. Whether it is gardening, travelling, or just walking to the store on a winter day, these new spine surgeries are
Dr. Jay Toor’s Mission to Help People Move Again
by Alanna Mitchell, Science and Medical Journalist
Jay Toor did not always plan to become a spine surgeon. While training in orthopaedic surgery in Toronto, his life changed after a terrible accident in his family. His grandfather, who was strong and active even in his 80s, fell down the stairs and suffered a severe spinal cord injury. Despite emergency surgery, he passed away.
That heartbreaking moment shaped Dr. Toor’s future. He decided to focus his career on spine surgery, believing that the ability to move your hands and legs is one of life’s most precious gifts.
After could finishing change that. most — heHe of was worked hiscalled specialty tirelessly, to help training improve sharing — and spine hiseven ideas care earning with in Manitoba. health a business leaders In 2023, degree andhedemonstrating to moved bettertounderstand Winnipeg, how better how hospitals work where many patients were waiting years for surgery. Dr. Toor believed new minimally invasive technology tools could help patients recover faster while also saving the health-care system money.
Today, he performs advanced spine surgeries at Concordia Hospital and helps train surgeons from around the world. He says the teamwork and patient-focused spirit he found in Winnipeg inspire him every day. For Dr. Toor, the goal is simple but powerful: help people return to the activities they love and give them the freedom to live life without pain.
Dr. Jay Toor with Science and Medical Journalist, Alanna Mitchell.
Dr. Jay Toor is one of the surgeons helping bring new spine surgery techniques to patients in Manitoba. He works at Concordia Hospital and the Health Sciences Centre, where he cares for people with serious back and spine problems.
Dr. Toor is excited about the new technology because it allows surgeons to do safer, more precise operations with smaller cuts. This helps patients feel less pain and recover faster so they can return to their normal lives sooner.
He also plays an important role in teaching other surgeons. Doctors from across Canada and around the world come to Winnipeg to learn these advanced skills, helping spread better spine care to even more people.
He arrived in Winnipeg in 2023 and started running spreadsheets.
At once, he realized that if the province invested in new, minimally invasive technology for spine surgeries, it could reduce waiting times and dramatically lower costs. He started cold-calling Uzoma Asagwara, the Minister of Health, asking for a meeting. He arrived at her office with sheafs of paper, showing that the province could buy the new equipment, shorten waiting times and save millions of dollars a year. A couple of weeks later, Asagwara announced a new provincial spine program, complete with funding for the new equipment. No other Canadian system has such advanced equipment, Dr. Toor says, adding that surgeons fly to Winnipeg to watch him operate, hoping their hospitals will adopt the technology. He credits the minister and her government for being “super responsive.”
It's not just the government that’s willing to listen. He says Manitobans are simply more down to earth than the people he grew up with in Toronto. “There’s a different personality of people here. There’s less ego. People think if something makes sense, it makes sense.”
Concordia, in particular, has a special place in his heart. “The staff here have a very unusual degree of commitment to patients to deliver care. This is a very unique place, and I know I can expand it and make it even better.” info@concordiafoundation.ca 204-813-4354 Concordiafoundation.ca