Province Pumps Cash into Hip/Knee Surgeries

By 250 News

The Province says it is pumping some more cash into Health Authorities across  B.C. to increase surgical procedures incuding hip and knee surgeries.

An  extra $25 million dollars is being made available.

"With this additional funding, on top of new funding we announced last
spring, the health authorities are projecting we will achieve a milestone of over 10,000 hip and knee surgeries this year -  for the first time ever in British Columbia," says Health Minister George Abbott.

Here is the breakdown on how the dollars are to be spent:

One half, $12.5 million, will be used for more than 850 hip and knee joint replacement surgeries

Of the  balance, , $7.5 million  will be used to "address wait time priorities including diagnostic and surgical procedures such as cataract and cardiac;"  those dollars will be distributed based on  proposals from health authorities.

The final $5 million will be used for proposals aimed at dealing with the increasing demands on critical care facilities.

There are formulas  that  will be used to  disperse the dollars,  so it is not clear how much may be  sent to the Northern Health Authority.

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