Whitehorse General Hospital needs more beds and an expanded capacity for surgical services, the Yukon Medical Association (YMA) says.
Higher-than-normal demands on the hospital recently have prompted questions about whether it needs to be expanded to keep in step with the city’s and territory’s rising aging population.
Earlier this month, as many as 19 patients had to be treated in such locations as meeting rooms and corridors because all the hospital rooms were occupied.
“The last major hospital redevelopment was completed in 1997,” Alex Kmet, the YMA’s president, told The Yukon Star this week.
“In 1996, the population in Yukon was 30,766 and the population in Whitehorse was 19,157,” he noted. Today, the Yukon population has grown to approximately 46,000 while the population in Whitehorse and the surrounding region, such as Marsh Lake, has almost doubled to 36,537.
“The Government of Yukon’s population projections have the Yukon’s population growing to 67,200 by the year 2045 with the population of Whitehorse growing to 49,920 over the next 20 years,” Kmet pointed out. The aging population will double by 2045 as well, he added.
“Based on the above statistics, the capacity for surgical services and the total number of inpatient beds needs to grow in order to keep up with both the historical and projected growth in demand for services,” said Kmet.
A Yukon cabinet spokesperson told the Star this week a needs assessment to plan for the next phase of capital development of the hospital system is being conducted. This could lead to the expansion of the hospital to include more beds.
“This work is ongoing, and we look forward to hearing more from the Yukon Hospital Corporation and the Department of Health and Social Services,” said cabinet spokeswoman Laura Seeley.
The previous hospital that opened on the same campus in the late 1950s had 90 beds. That number, however, was pared to 55 during the development of the current hospital in the mid-1990s.
While the population has consistently climbed since then, members of the medical community have pointed out, the number of beds to serve the expanded number of people has not.
