Hospital district approves $3.5M in funding requests

Requests from Northern Health included funding for new x-ray, ultrasound and operating room video equipment

The Fraser-Fort George Regional Hospital District board approved almost $3.5 million in funding requests from Northern Health for the 2026 fiscal year at its Thursday, July 16 meeting. Requests included almost $2.2 million in contributions towards equipment purchases and renovations, more than $1.1 million in minor capital grants and $100,000 for building integrity work. Each regional district in BC has a corresponding regional hospital district, which is responsible for collecting taxes to contribute to the cost of capital projects for medical facilities within its boundaries.

In 2026, Fraser-Fort George set a contribution limit of $7.5 million for capital projects. At Thursday's meeting, Regional District of Fraser-Fort George general manager of financial services told directors that this round of Northern Health was targeted to use the rest of that $7.5 million. To fit within those constraints, she said the bulk of costs for laundry equipment replacements at the University Hospital of Northern BC in Prince George were being deferred to the 2027 budget.

The list of approved funding requests included: - $114,800 for two new electroencephalographs (EEG) for the University Hospital of Northern BC. Northern Health said the current system will be sent to another facility to improve system capacity as UHNBC is currently the only one performing EEGs in the north - $316,000 for a new X-ray machine to replace a dated model at the Victoria Medical Building in Prince George - $148,000 for two new ultrasound machines for UHNBC’s diagnostic imaging department - $339,200 to replace a dishwasher at UHNBC. Northern Health said the current machine is 14 years old and works 15 hours a day, every day - $171,200 for an immunohistochemistry stainer for UHNBC, which is a machine that processes tissue samples to look for antibodies - $209,600 for a new chemistry analyzer for UHNBC, which would be installed during ongoing renovations at a hospital laboratory - $465,600 for laundry equipment replacement at UHNBC, with another $1,028,000 requested for 2027 - $222,400 for an operating room video system replacement at UHNBC - $202,000 for leasehold improvements at a First Avenue housing and health facility - $1,136,000 in minor capital grants covering 82 different minor projects - $100,000 in minor building integrity grants During discussion over the EEG replacements, Director Art Kaehn (Woodpecker-Hixon) wondered how useful the machine being moved out of Prince George would be given that it’s at the end of its life and Chair Kyle Sampson (City of Prince George) asked whether the regional hospital district would be compensated for it being moved outside of its jurisdiction.

Sampson asked chief administrative officer Chris Calder to look into the matter and come back with information in the future. All the financial requests were approved unanimously.