By Cheryl Jahn

BC United calls for better healthcare

Jan 31, 2024 | 3:54 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – Whether it’s emergency room capacity, operating room capacity, capital upgrades, or inadequate staffing, the B.C. United Party says the North has been long ignored by the NDP when it comes to health care.

“It’s been seven years with this NDP government. They haven’t meaningfully progressed the capital plan for UHNBC,” says BC United Candidate Kiel Giddens. “So what we’re seeing is emergency room overcrowding and a serious lack of surgical supports for people here in Prince George and across the northern health region, whether that’s cardiac care, operating time and there’s a system breakdown in the entire Northern health region.”

But following the latest Northern Health Board meeting, not only was nearly a million dollars worth of capital upgrades, with the minister of health saying he is fully aware of the deficits at the hospital.

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“They’re 1970s operating room suites,” says Health Minister Adrian Dix. “Go to the mental health ward at the University Hospital in Prince George. First of all, there are a lot of people there fighting service for the whole region. And secondly, the kind of 1960s facilities. Right?”

Well, if that’s the case, says B.C. United, make the changes. Giddens cites a glaring omission in treatment options for Northerners.

“Cardiac care, for example, individuals in the Northern Health region have to travel hundreds of kilometers down to Vancouver to access cardiac care to Kelowna or Vancouver. That’s unacceptable. We need adequate care for patients here in northern B.C.”

He says what seems to be overlooked is the very nature of UHNBC.

“This is the hub for the entire northern region. So we need to be a proper tertiary center of care for the entire northern health region. Northerners deserve that and the NDP needs to actually fund this hospital and make sure that we have the supports that we need here in the north.”

An announcement was made in November about the demolition of the Northern Health Unit to support future plans, and Minister Dix had this to say just before Christmas.

“It’s the order of things you have to do when you’ve got an existing site and you have to use the space set aside for parking or other things that you need to deal with that issue first. And that’s going to be how the whole hospital project gets built. So the early works have improved. They’re proceeding and that’s the tower.”