Construction on an addition at Health Sciences Centre is delayed and over budget, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority said Friday.
Work started in 2011 on the seven-storey, 91,000-square-foot Diagnostic Centre of Excellence located on William Avenue beneath the new helicopter landing pad.
It was initially due to be finished by spring 2014.
It's now expected the building won't be ready until 2019.
The project has faced several setbacks, including a fire and a water problem, said WRHA interim president and CEO Réal Cloutier.
"That caused a large part of the delay," Cloutier told reporters. "Everything kind of flowed from there."
The project initially pegged at $59 million is also $14 million over budget, Cloutier said.
$3.7 million is related to the increased provincial sales tax.
$8 million is related to equipment costs because it may no longer make sense to move old diagnostic equipment to the new facility.
"The assumption that you could take equipment that's aging - especially the digital equipment that's used in a lot of our diagnostic areas is getting old - you make a decision at some point that it makes no sense to spend the money to move old equipment,” said Cloutier. “So that's actually all the costs related to the equipment."
New equipment may now be needed in some cases but details are still being worked out between the WRHA and Manitoba Health, Cloutier said.
“I think they’re making the right decision saying, ‘we’re not going to pay for the moving cost, the calibration, all the work that’s got to be done. You might as well just buy new equipment.’ So that’s what we’re sorting out.”
The opposition said in early 2016 the building was on track to be opened soon and has concerns about the delay.
“It’s now another new year, 2018,” said NDP health critic Andrew Swan. “Although some parts of this building appear to be operational, there are major questions about other services, whether they’re ever going to be provided now.”
“If this government had a will to get this up and running there would be a way to have it happen.”
The provincial government did not receive a request for comment as stated in the version of this story which ran Friday January 5th.
In an emailed statement health minister Kelvin Goertzen said the department has received information about the status of the project from the WRHA. Goertzen said any new or additional funding would have to pass through the standard budgetary approval process of government.
Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen issued a ststement which reads, in part:
"Any suggestion by the NDP that our government intentionally delayed the Diagnostic Centre of Excellence (DCE) is both misinformed and reckless. The DCE is a complex capital project that experienced unforeseen delays resulting from a fire, flood and construction deficiencies, all of which have compounded the difficulty in completing the project within its original timeline. As a member of the former government, Mr. Swan would also know this project was already 26 months behind schedule by the time they lost the election in April 2016."
The WRHA said all the services promised to be offered in the diagnostic centre when it was first announced in 2011 will be available once it opens.
“As far as I’m concerned, absolutely,” said Cloutier. “It’s a matter of just confirming with government that we’re going to get the allocation for that replacement equipment, so that’s the discussions we’re having with government right now.”
Features of the Diagnostic Centre of Excellence
- new pediatric MRI and associated waiting room, nursing station and support spaces
- new CT scanner
- digital radiography suite incorporating existing equipment from the Ann Thomas Building;
- new operating room angiography suite
- replacement of the shared adult/pediatric cardiac catheterization laboratory
- consolidation of remaining pediatric diagnostic imaging programs (ultrasound, fluoroscopy and radiology viewing) from the Children’s Hospital
- relocated vascular and neuroangiography laboratories
Source: Manitoba Government news release, November 29, 2011
