Health minister announces new cardiac lab at St. Mary's General Hospital

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones was in Kitchener Tuesday to announce money for a third cardiac catheterization lab at St. Mary’s General Hospital.

The hospital’s two existing cardiac catheterization labs, which diagnose and treat heart and blood vessel problems, perform around 4,000 to 5,000 procedures per year. The hospital had been appealing for money to purchase new equipment.

President Mark Fam said the new lab will allow them to increase capacity by around 50 per cent.

“It will stop patients from having to go to our local centres around us, in Hamilton, Toronto and London, and really increase that local capacity,” Fam said.

Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones makes an announcement at St. Mary's General Hospital in Kitchener on Jan. 30, 2024. (Chris Thomson/CTV Kitchener

The province says with the money announced Tuesday, St. Mary’s will be able to reduce wait times and complete more life-saving procedures like angiograms, angioplasties, and minimally invasive surgeries.

It comes as the government continues to face questions about extensive wait times in emergency rooms across the province.

Waterloo Region hospitals are also in the spotlight due to a situation where a mother says her daughter waited nearly 24 hours in the ER for an emergency appendectomy.

Jones said her government is working to address long-standing issues with wait times and she feels for the family.

“I think we’ve all – as parents, as family members – had those very stressful moments where you don’t know what is wrong with your loved one and you just want a solution,” Jones said. “I can only imagine the pain, the frustration, the stress the family went through and I have committed, in the months, in the days and weeks ahead, if she would like to have a conversation with me about her experience, I am happy to have that. I think it’s important that we hear directly from people who have been impacted with our system.”