Expansion on the horizon for CancerCare Manitoba

CancerCare Manitoba is expanding and the new facility will standat Winnipeg's Sherbrook Street and McDermotAvenue.

Manitoba Premier Greg Selingermade the announcement on Friday, saying the expansion will address growing demands for services in the province and expand the scope of research done locally.

"The new facility will offer diagnostics, treatment and research to help cancer patients and their families get the care they need," he said in a press release issued by the province on Friday.

Manitoba's Health Minister, Sharon Blady, said the expansion will connect to CancerCare Manitoba's current building.

"[That] will help ensure services remain easy to access and co-ordinated for the benefit of patients," Blady said in a newsrelease.

The CancerCare Manitoba Foundation bought the land to build the expansion, Blady said. The foundation's chair, Doug Harvey, said the investment is a world-class project.

"[It]will support groundbreaking research that helps attract the best and brightest clinicians and researchers in the province," he said.

More than 6,000 Manitobans are diagnosed with cancer each year and the expansion, which the press release said "will soon be underway," is aiming to accommodate more patients than the current facility can hold.

"Our goal is also to ensure that Manitobans have access to the most current cancer treatments and benefit from leading-edge research and innovation," said CancerCare Manitoba's CEO and president, Dr.Sri Navaratnam.