The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador has announced $32 million in funding for the acquisition of health care equipment for facilities throughout the province, which represents a $5 million increase from last year’s budget.

The funding will be used by Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services and the Memorial University Faculty of Medicine to replace end of life and obsolete equipment, as well as to meet the equipment requirements related to changing clinical service requirements and service expansions. Funding includes approximately:

• $6.4 million for the Central Zone;
• $14 million for the Eastern Urban Zone;
• $3 million for the Eastern Rural Zone;
• $1.9 million for the Labrador-Grenfell Zone;
• $2.3 million for the Western Zone;
• $873,000 for Digital Health;
• $363,000 for the Faculty of Medicine; and
• $3.1 million for contingency and other planning.

Funding will be used to purchase equipment to meet clinical and non-clinical operational facility requirements, from specialized medical equipment such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), to CT scanners and other equipment.

Budget 2023, “Your Health. Our Priority” included a record high $3.9 billion investment in health care. This historic investment includes:

• $800,000 to improve operating room capacity at the Janeway Children’s Hospital;
• $1 million to cover provider costs for the Electronic Medical Record system to enable sharing of appropriate clinical information across providers within a patients’ circle of care;
• $15 million towards a new health information system;
• $23 million for recruitment and retention of health care professionals;
• More than $21 million for 10 new Family Care Teams to provide more than 80,000 people with access to primary health care;
• $9 million to begin the consolidation of 60 separate road ambulance services into a single, integrated service with centralized dispatch; and
• Close to $2 million for clinical space for an urgent care centre in the Metro St. John’s area, which will provide access to care for unexpected, non-life-threatening health concerns.

Quotes
“Our priority is the appropriate delivery of care for our residents, and we remain committed to investing in health care equipment throughout the province. We continue to work with Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services to fund capital equipment, so that we can ensure that access to health care can continue with modern equipment and health care facilities can continue to operate effectively and efficiently as we work to transform our health care system.”
Honourable Tom Osborne
Minister of Health and Community Services

“The funding announced today will help ensure Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services is able to continue delivering safe and effective health care to people across the province. Not only will communities benefit from this direct investment in their local facilities, our staff and physicians will have increased access to modern and specialized equipment which help them provide the best possible care to their patients.”
David Diamond
CEO, Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services

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