COLLINS: Cancer clinic — fact or fiction?
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I SO WANT TO BELIEVE Health Minister Adrian Dix that this week’s announcement on the Kamloops cancer clinic means we’re a step closer to seeing the $389-million project become reality. But I won’t believe it until I see it open, and that’s a ways away.
The health minister announced on Monday that two companies have been selected to go to the request-for-proposal stage. The ministry will take a year to evaluate the proposals before finalizing a contractor next year, allowing construction to start at roughly this time in 2025. Badly needed radiation treatment would finally be available.
But don’t jump for joy quite yet. The province has spewed out these kinds of statements before, and the projects have been scaled back, put on hold or scrapped. Dix says he’s confident in the budget projections, but we are well aware of how many projects run way over budget, resulting in major adjustments. Often, the final building is far less than what was promised originally.
Dix says the new proposal will provide state-of-the-art facilities, along with a renovation project for the hospital and a 470-stall parkade. But Dix also says this clinic will provide for the healthcare needs for the area for the next 50 or 60 years. There is no way this clinic will be state-of-the-art for that long. Indeed, some of the facilities could be obsolete before the clinic opens, hopefully sometime in 2028.
