Manitoba's health minister says it has taken years, but the NDP government has finally restored the number of nurses working in the province to levels matching those before the Conservative cuts in the 1990s.

Health Minister Theresa Oswald says the latest numbers from the province's three colleges representing nurses — the College of Registered Nurses, the College of Registered Psychiatric Nurses, and the College of Licensed Practical Nurses — show Manitoba now has 15,681 nurses.

When the Conservatives were in office in the 1990s, they phased out nursing positions on the advice of a U.S. consultant, Oswald said, leading to a decade-long nursing shortage.

When the NDP came to office in 1999, Oswald said, 14,092 nurses were working.

Oswald said she was thrilled with the latest numbers, and she hopes Manitobans are, too.

"It has taken us seven to eight years to turn that ship around," she said.

"We're not finished yet, but the point of the story is we're increasing our capacity in health care, not decreasing it. We're hiring over 1,500 nurses, not firing 1,000, and I think these distinctions need to be made."

A spokesperson for the Manitoba Nurses Union confirmed the government's statistics were accurate, adding the increase in numbers is good news for the province's nurses.