Construction starts next week to expand Grand River Hospital's cancer centre

Construction to expand the cancer centre at Grand River Hospital is expected to begin next week. 

When the construction is completed by the middle of next summer, there will be a new radiation treatment unit that can handle 400 more patients each year, an increase of 24 per cent.

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There will also be a second computed tomography (CT) scanner installed, which will serve double the number of patients than are treated now.

Dr. Ernest Osei, head of the medical physics department at the hospital, told CBC News the project is expected to take about 20 weeks.

"The goal is to get the CT done early, by maybe somewhere in February or March," Osei said. "By mid-summer 2017, we will complete the installation for the radiation treatment unit."

Quality of care patients 'deserve'

Dr. Ramana Rachakonda, the medical director for radiation oncology at the cancer centre, said he has heard from patients who are happy to hear about the expansion.

"We'll not only be able to treat patients faster, but we'll also be able to introduce new techniques...more complex and sophisticated treatment techniques that we are currently not able to offer and patients sometimes have to go to Toronto or Hamilton or London for these treatments," he said.

"The patients are quite excited because travelling to Toronto or Hamilton is not the easiest of things, especially on weekdays, and if they have to go multiple times, it does put a burden on the patients and their families," Rachakonda added. "If we're able to provide treatments locally with the same quality of care that they deserve, then it's obviously a great benefit for them."

Thousands treated at centre

When it was opened 13 years ago, the cancer centre was designed so it could be expanded when patient volumes justified additional treatment capacity, Grand River Hospital president and CEO Malcolm Maxwell said in a release.

Ontario Minister of Health Eric Hoskins was in Kitchener on Friday to mark the start of construction. This project is the next phase in the province's $5.42 million investment in the hospital's cancer centre, which was initially announced in April 2014.

Since 2003, the Grand River Regional Cancer Centre has provided radiation therapy to more than 7,300 patients in 104,000 visits and chemotherapy to more than 9,200 patients in 65,000 visits, the province said.