The project will not result in an additional tax increase

Hope Lompe

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

The Nanaimo Regional Hospital District board voted unanimously to fully fund the long-awaited cardiac catheterization lab for the Nanaimo Regional General Hospital (NRGH), after frustration with provincial delays.

The NRHD has its own budget and is governed by a Board of Directors made up of the Directors from the Regional District of Nanaimo Board.

At the Dec. 9 hospital board meeting, Mayor of Lantzville, Mark Swain, put forward the motion to allocate up to $50 million in hospital board reserve funds for the project. By providing full up-front funding they hope to accelerate planning, approval and implementation for the project. The motion also put this commitment as part of the NRGH patient tower replacement.

The RDN hospital board is responsible for 40 per cent of NRGH capital projects. Approval has stalled in anticipation of the province’s contribution for both major projects, as promised on the 2024 campaign trail.

“Island health has pushed the cath lab out to 2030 …that is troubling,” Swain said, speaking to his motion.

“I think if this board wants to do something that’s impactful to his commitment to the health of people in this region we move on this today.

“It’s like we’re giving a loan to the province … that’s troubling, but it’s necessary,” he said.

The board also approved their 2026 provisional budget during the Dec. 9 meeting, to be finalized with the RDN 2026-2030 financial plan in March. The proposed taxation is $534.04 for an average home price of $829,538.

Paying 100 per cent of this project will go toward their 40 per cent total responsibility for hospital capital projects. The $50 million up front cost will come from hospital board reserve funds, not new taxation.

Donna Hais, chairperson of Fair Care Alliance, a health care advocacy group for North and Central Vancouver Island, spoke as a delegation at the meeting. She says both the lab and the new patient tower are just a start to meet the needs of residents who rely on the regional hospital.

Swain’s motion acknowledged residents north of the Malahat have to risk travel to get the critical treatment cardiac catheterization labs provide.

By adding the lab it would serve more than 450,000 residents and relieve space in Victoria and Vancouver hospitals.

“All of the [one] million people who live on Vancouver Island will be affected by our hospital,” Hais said during her delegation. “Our patients are in beds in Victoria right now, taking up valuable space that should be for people who live there, not people who live here.”