Dialysis clinic repairs need ‘urgency’

A rural healthcare lobby group in eastern P.E.I. say repairs at Souris Hospital and upgrades to its dialysis clinic are taking too long.

Health PEI had initially hoped to have dialysis services resume in Souris by January. Patients who were getting treatment there have been going to Charlottetown since mid-July, when a water filtration system was found not to be functioning up to standards.

Dialysis services are now not expected to resume in Souris until early March.

"Tenders were just completed, which is just unacceptable. There needs to be attentive urgency. These are sick people who require facilities,” said Alan MacPhee, chair of Islandwide Hospital Access.

"I don't see the reason why it takes five months to get to tender, and we're being told another four to five months to get it complete, which is yet to be seen. So you know, if the furnace was out in my house I'd do whatever it took to get my furnace back on.”

The Souris dialysis patients are being bussed to Charlottetown. The cost of approximately $1,000 a week is being covered by government.

Health PEI says planning for the new water filtration system, upgrades to the dialysis clinic, and the tendering all take time.

Construction is expected to start his week.