ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — In an effort to restore confidence in a Liberal promise to install a PET scanner at the new acute care regional hospital being built in Corner Brook, the province has earmarked $2 million for a machine.
That money will be held in trust by the Western Regional Hospital Foundation.
The announcement was made by Health Minister John Haggie and Gerry Byrne, the MHA for Corner Brook and minister of Immigration, Skills and Labour, in St. John’s on Thursday.
It comes following an outcry from people on the west coast of the province after it was revealed that the PET scanner — publicly promised by former premier Dwight Ball while leader of the Opposition in 2014 — would not be in the hospital when it opened.
Haggie had said there would a room for it if it was determined later that it was needed. Byrne, in contrast, said the machine would be there but would take time for it to be put in place as the facility undergoes commission and accreditation.
Even on Thursday the ministers would not confirm a time-frame.
Both, however, indicated the need to provide clarity on the issue.
Haggie said construction of the hospital is on schedule and it should be turned over to Western Health in 2023. After that it will have to be commissioned and as part of that the cancer bunkers will require scrutiny and authorization from Canadian nuclear regulators.
“So, it will be a little bit of time between now and when the radiation services in Western Memorial are up and running and treating patients.”
He said the foundation and structures for a PET scanner are being built into the facility.
“The decision around what that technology should look like, however, is still something of an open question because of the time difference between now and when the building is actually delivering services.”
Because of uncertainties generated in social media and some mainstream media, Haggie said there was a need for government to inject clarity and put back trust.
And governmwnt sees placing the money into a trust with the foundation as a way to do that.
Both ministers denied they were trying to put the issue at ease before a provincial election is called.
“This money will be there for the purchase and installation of a PET scanner,” said Haggie.
“There will be $2 million that will be there and the decisions about what to do with that and how it should be spent will be clearly based on recommendations of cancer-care providers delivering the service to the people in western region at the time those service are up and running.”
So, he said, there will be an appropriate purchase of what will be the most state-of-the-art equipment available at the time. As opposed to purchasing something now and it becoming obsolete before it’s put into service.
But will it be two years or 10 years before that happens?
Haggie said it won’t be 10 years, but it’s difficult to give a clear timeline when it comes to accreditation.
He said the province had one for the installation of the cyclotron in St. John’s, and even before the COVID-19 pandemic it was a lot longer.
And will the $2 million be enough or will it be up to the foundation and the people on the west coast and Labrador who will benefit from the service to raise more money?
“No, this is capital equipment,” said Haggie.
“The money for the foundation is the capital piece. We’ve simply put it there as a rather novel way, we thought, of trying to restore trust in the community that government is doing what it says it was going to do, even though they can’t do it immediately.
“The challenge with, I think, the situation from the west coast as I see it, as a government minister and not a resident of the west coast, is there seems to be, as minister Byrne has said, some degree of cynicism around the whole process, and folks for various reasons out there have generated an air of distrust and I along with minister Byrne and my colleagues are trying to put that to bed by doing something we haven’t done before involving a fixed sum of money, putting it to one side and giving it in trust to a trusted third party.”
The fact the announcement was made on what could possibly be the eve of an election call is not connected, said Byrne.
But he said there was a lot of politics around this hospital, including commitments given that were never fulfilled.
“And now we’re at the point where because of certain cynicism that is somewhat justifiable that may be out there, despite the fact that the structure is there and it’s being built and it’s there for the eyes to see, they want to know exactly where the PET scanner sits.”
When asked later if the announcement was an attempt to remove the matter as an election issue, Byrne’s replied, “It’s a sincere effort to create greater certainty for the best health-care outcome from our $870-million health-care campus.”
The Liberals were not the only party making promises on a PET scanner Thursday.
Earlier in the morning the Progressive Conservatives issued a news release to say a PC government will follow through where the Liberals failed and deliver a PET scanner to the Corner Brook regional hospital.
“The residents of western Newfoundland and Labrador are watching as Gerry Byrne and John Haggie say different things, while pretending to agree. For us, there is no ambiguity. We’ll deliver a PET scanner for Corner Brook,” said Tony Wakeham, the PC MHA for Stephenville-Port au Port and a former CEO of Labrador-Grenfell Health.
“A Progressive Conservative government will follow through and deliver that PET scanner to the Corner Brook regional hospital: a promise is a promise,” he said.
Diane Crocker reports on west coast news.
Updated Jan. 15, 2021 with more information.
