KAMLOOPS, sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ — The British Columbia government is preparing to build a new cancer care centre in Kamloops.
The new centre at the Royal Inland Hospital will include radiation therapy, meaning patients will no longer have to travel the roughly two-hour trip south to Kelowna for that treatment, Health Minister Adrian Dix said Thursday.
"In order to build a robust public health-care system, we are addressing a lack of health-care investments in communities across the province and, in this case, the need to distribute cancer care around the province," he said.
The announcement comes more than a week after Dix announced up to 50 sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ cancer patients will be referred to two clinics in Washington every week in an effort to reduce wait times for radiation therapy.
Dix told the news conference Thursday that a "concept plan" for the new centre, which was promised as part of the 2020 election, has been approved and a business plan will be completed this calendar year.
Dr. Kim Chi, medical director of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ Cancer, said the new centre is expected to offer 14,000 treatment visits, as well as 6,600 radiation consultations and follow-up appointments in its first year.
Dix said he expects the building to be ready to see patients in 2027 and that cancer centres typically cost between $200 and $300 million.
He has previously said nearly 83 per cent of sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ patients start radiation within 28 days from the date they're ready for the treatment,which doesn't meet the clinical benchmarks the province has set as a goal.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 25, 2023
The Canadian Press