Pharmacists in Manitoba will still get a chance to prescribe medication in some cases, in spite of doctors' rejection of the move at a meeting of the Canadian Medical Association earlier this week.

Most doctors attending a CMA convention voted against a motion by their national lobby group to allow pharmacists to prescribe medication when they're part of a team caring for patients.

Doctors argue that only they have the proper training and access to patients' histories, test results and diagnoses to safely prescribe drugs.

But Manitoba Health Minister Theresa Oswald says the province will go ahead with its new Pharmaceutical Act, passed last fall, which will allow pharmacists to prescribe drugs in certain limited cases.

"Very, very complex medical decisions and complex prescribing that needs to go on certainly needs to be in the hands of doctors and in consultation with other health-care professionals," Oswald said.

"But there are other situations where patients have been frustrated on some issues about less complex prescribing, perhaps … where we're trying to get the most out of all of our health-care human resources, that it would be really sensible to have pharmacists be able to do this."

Pharmacists, doctors and patients are all being consulted as new regulations are being drafted on the matter, Oswald said.

"The doctors will be in on the discussions, continuing to build on the very good relationships that exist here in Manitoba between docs and pharmacists, and we're going to come to a landing place that's not only good and safe for patients, but good for the professionals involved as well," she said.

Six other provinces are also moving toward allowing pharmacists to prescribe in straightforward cases, such as when a patient with a chronic condition needs a refill or when a patient has developed a reaction to a prescribed drug and requires a substitute.

Pharmacists say the outcome of the CMA vote in no way affects their role, as they are self-regulated.