The North Bay Regional Health Centre is welcoming added funding from the province, but there’s more work to do.
Vic Fedeli, MPP for Nipissing, announced a total of $10.5 million in support for the health centre.
Nearly $9.2 million represents a 4.1% increase in annualized base funding. Another $1.3 million is in one-time funding with over $200,000 for infrastructure renewal.
“This news today is very stabilizing,” says Paul Heinrich, NBRHC President and CEO. “It’s taken care of a big challenge, and it ensures that our cash on hand is in good shape over the coming years.”
He also says they do need more work around funding, noting the problem is they’re both a community hospital and a regional mental health facility, but can only get categorized as one.
Fedeli says they’re aware of that issue.
“They’re funded differently but you can only apply for one category of funding,” he says. “We’ve been working on trying to get this separated so they’re both funded. I think the funding of $10.5 million helps it go a long way forward.”
Heinrich says they do have a ‘real crisis’ around physician availability with unattached patients and not enough family doctors.
“The one piece of really good news this year is that we matched five family practice residents and most of them are likely to remain here when they finish their residencies in a few years,” he says.
Heinrich says last year they had zero matched.
He adds the community needs about ten more family physicians and eight for the emergency department.
