The BC government has announced planned upgrades to Royal Inland Hospital to ensure more surgeries are carried out locally.

Speaking at the hospital in Kamloops Monday, Health Minister Adrian Dix says over 6.5-million dollars will be spent to carve out three new operating rooms at Royal Inland Hospital — two in the old tower, and one in the new Phil and Jennie Gaglardi tower.

This will increase the number of operating rooms at Royal Inland to 13 when the new ones are operational.

The BC government says three new ORs are expected to be open in 2023 and will support an additional 5,400 OR hours, or 3,240 procedures annually,

“We have made tremendous progress towards rescheduling and completing surgical procedures postponed in the Interior due to the COVID-19 pandemic, environmental emergencies and staff redeployments,” said Dix. “This investment in additional operating rooms in Kamloops will significantly increase surgical capacity throughout the region and help more patients receive their surgery faster and closer to home.”

Accompanying Dix at the announcement at Royal Inland Hospital was Interior Health CEO Susan Brown.

“The increase in operating rooms is welcomed news for our staff, physicians and, most importantly, our patients,” said Brown. “Our hospitals continue to feel the pressures created over the last few years as we postponed surgical services to focus on critical care, which is creating a surge in demand for these services today. The additional funding will help meet our commitment to drive down wait times for patients and increase our capacity on an ongoing basis.”

On top of this, the BC government has announced an additional 3-million dollars to try to get more staff in the ICU and Emergency Department at Royal Inland.

“In addition to the added surgical capacity,” said the province in a news release, “The government has increased funding by $2.9 million to help support additional staff in the intensive care unit, emergency department and hospitalist program at RIH, as well as additional incentives to attract staff to RIH.”

The province says this includes additional health-care aides through the HCAP program, travel resource pool supports for nurses, retention incentives and re-entry bursaries for nurses returning to practice.