Health Minister Says Radiation Therapy Is a Go

By 250 News

Health Minister George Abbott was up bright and early to have breakfast with the P.G. Chamber of Commerce . 

Radiation therapy will be the crown of the cancer care plan for the North , but the infrastructure and base must be developed first.  

That was the word from the Minister of Health, George Abbott  who says the report on Cancer Care Delivery in the North is an important building block.  No details yet, but he told the group he expected the complete project to be up and runningwithin 5-10 years.

Right now, he says the current challenge facing health care in B.C. is the shortage of nurses.

Abbott says the shortage of 2,000 nurses  is a province wide problem and has recently caused major concerns for intensive care in the northeast.  "A hospital bed is just a steel frame with a mattress until yu have a nurse to  help the patient who may be in that bed." says Abbott.  He says the Province has  added more than 3 thousand spaces for nursing students but it takes time to move them through the system.  He says the Province has also doubled the number of Doctors in  B.C.

"There is no  unimportant area of health care delivery" says Abbott. He says in addition to  nursing, there is a shortage of care aides, and while the Province is trying to  work with educational institutions to increase training, the booming economy is also  posing a challenge.  "There are people who are being attracted by the very high paying jobs in other sectors of the economy."

Couple those challenges  with the aging demographic and there is serious pressure on the health care system.  "The number of knee replacements has increased 86% since 2001, the demand for ambulatory care is up 50%" says Abbott.  That helps explain why the budget has climbed from $8 billion dollars when the Campbell team took power, to the $12 billion dollar budget of the past year.

That is the background for the call to  take part in  the Conversations on Health.  Abbott says so far more than 21 thousand people have visited the website  (www.BCConversationonHealth.ca) and some two thousand submissions have already been received.  "Some of the ideas are very sound" says Abbott . 

The details of the regional forums have yet to be released, hwoever it is understood there will be a session in Prince George, Smithers, and Fort St. John. 

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