REGINA – The only hyperbaric chamber available in an emergency between Edmonton and Toronto will be staying in Saskatchewan, says Health Minister Dustin Duncan.
Now the question is where to put it.
“Is there a way to see it remain in Moose Jaw? That’s obviously still on the table,” Duncan said Tuesday morning. “Or does it make more sense to put it in a tertiary centre (such as Saskatoon or Regina)?”
The oxygen therapy service is currently offered at Moose Jaw Union Hospital, but the province has for months insisted that there’s no space for it at the new regional hospital scheduled to open later in 2015.
It’s possible the chamber could still be part of the new facility, but Duncan says the government wants to determine if it could be provided on an emergency basis in close proximity to the hospital instead.
Health officials weighed the cost of moving the hyperbaric chamber to another facility in Saskatchewan against fees the province would pay to send patients to other provinces for therapy.
Duncan says “it really didn’t come down to dollars,” with both options coming with a similar operational cost.
“At the beginning of this process, it was likely we’d see this service stay in the province, but we wanted to run the numbers and make sure we could really rule out 100 per cent out-of-province,” he said.
Moose Jaw’s chamber provides about 300 treatments per year and is the only one available on an inpatient basis between Edmonton and Toronto.
Most recently, a Carlyle family argued the chamber needs to stay in a hospital setting after their 15-year-old son nearly died from carbon monoxide poisoning.
Duncan said April 30 that nearly half the people using hyperbaric services are in relation to radiation therapy, suggesting a more appropriate location for the service may be near cancer centres in Regina or Saskatoon.
Several people have pushed the government to keep the service in Moose Jaw, including the local firefighters association. They kicked in $10,000 for operation of the chamber in 1997 and has continued to provide money through a provincial fund ever since.
Duncan expects to announce a final decision “in the next couple of weeks.”
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