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By John McDonald
The Interior Health Authority won’t confirm it, but Health Minister Kevin Falcon will likely be in town Friday to announce the opening of the first phase of the cardiac revascularization centre at Kelowna General Hospital.
“As you know, it was announced late last year when the minister talked about the phased plan for cardiology where angioplasty would be performed in Kelowna on a timeline of late fall 2009 to spring of 2010,” said IHA communications officer Karen Cairns. “There will be a media advisory later this week on this and that’s all I can tell you.”
However a source within the hospital confirmed that cardiologists have been performing coronary angioplasty in the hospital all week in two existing operating rooms in the hospital that have been converted for that purpose.
Plans are to complete the cardiac revascularization centre by 2012, when surgeons will also be able to perform full open heart surgery, in addition to coronary angioplasty.
Coronary angioplasty is a therapeutic procedure usually performed by a cardiologist to treat narrowed coronary arteries of the heart found in coronary heart disease.
When finished, Kelowna General Hospital will join four other large tertiary hospitals – Royal Columbian, Royal Jubilee, St. Pauls and Vancouver General – as the only sites where those procedures are available.
KGH will be the only hospital outside the Lower Mainland with a cardiac revascularization centre.
john@kelowna.com
250-575-0521
Tags: angioplasty, cardiology, health minister, kevin falcon
