By Cheryl Jahn

Surgical tower costs alarming

Feb 12, 2024 | 3:47 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – It has been a project on the books for years, but the bill for the surgical tower has come to attention. The tower would include cardiac care, services for mental health and addictions, and new operating rooms.

At last count, the bill for the new surgical tower is $625 million. As per legislation, the Regional Hospital District – part of the Regional District of Fraser Fort George – is responsible for forty percent of that bill. That’s $247 million and change.

“So the biggest challenge in Northern health is because we are so sparsely populated, we are the largest health authority in the province,” says Joan Atkinson Chair of the Regional Hospital Board. “We don’t have the properties and the high-value properties to be able to pay for these things.”

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It’s a sentiment City Councillor and Regional District Director Brian Skakun agrees with.

“We need a surgical tower, but we don’t get acknowledgment for our contributions for all the improvements at the hospital here. The province has said nothing about us when it comes to our contribution. And the Hospital District Act is just a way to just download health costs onto local taxpayers. So there’s a lot of pushback now. It’s an election year, but we have to try and drive some of those costs down because in the end, we don’t have a say.”