Whitehorse hospital needs renovations for new MRI

Renovations needed at Whitehorse General Hospital before a new MRI can be installed could be the start of a multi-million dollar expansion of the facility.

The fundraising for the machine is complete and the hospital now just needs to purchase the unit. A hospital committee will be formed to purchase the $4 million machine.

A request for proposals will go out to four vendors who are approved to sell MRI units in Canada.

Hospital staff say they are looking for the "work horse" of MRI machines.

"There isn't a lot of room to manoeuvre on the purchase price," said Tanya Solberg, manager of the hospitals Imaging department.

"The main four vendors are relatively close. We'll be focusing on the maintenance, the contractual support for it. Because we are so remote, we want to make sure that it's up all the time,and we don't have service personnel that live across the street."

The fundraising to purchase an MRI was finished a year earlier than anticipated.

MRI facilitypart of larger study into hospital's future

The hospital will have to be renovated or expanded to install the large MRI machine. Thatcould be the beginning of a $287 million hospital expansion envisioned in a$350,000 study doneby Stanteca Vancouver-based consulting firm.

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"We certainly know the Whitehorse General Hospital was underbuilt," said Rao Tadepalli, president of the Yukon Medical Association. "We're at capacity and there are ongoing needs currently that are not met [for] which we are looking for options."

The strategic plan also calls for an increase in the 55-bed hospital to more than 100 beds.

If approved, construction would happen over two decades, with completion in 2033.