Construction on Kamloops, B.C. cancer centre slated for 2025, health minister says

Work on a long-awaited cancer centre in Kamloops, B.C., appears set to finally move forward.

At an announcement in the interior city Thursday, Health Minister Adrian Dix said a business plan for the facility was complete, with construction now slated begin in 2025 for a 2028 completion target.

The five-storey cancer centre will include 10 exam rooms, two consultation rooms for radiation-therapy, a CT simulator and outpatient ambulatory care unit.

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“Approval of the business plan is a critical milestone for this crucial project,” Dix said. “This state-of-the-art cancer centre will benefit patients in Kamloops and the surrounding area by offering the confidence from knowing that we’re building treatment capacity for now and the future.”

The centre, to be located on the grounds of the Royal Inland Hospital, was a BC NDP promise in the 2020 provincial election. A concept plan for the facility was completed last year.

Thompson Regional Hospital District Chair Mike O’Reilly said the facility can’t come soon enough, noting advocacy work for a cancer centre in the community began in 1998.

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“Our board and our residents will not quit advocating and working with our partners at the provincial government Interior Health and BC Cancer to ensure this centre is on time and opens in 2028, because we know that cancer won’t wait,” he said.

The project is one of four cancer centres the province has pledged to build, along with facilities in Nanaimo, Surrey and Burnaby.

The provincial government is joined by Interior Health and the Thompson Regional Hospital District in covering the estimated $359 million budget.

— with files from CFJC