A permanent $35.86 million MRI suite will be constructed at the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital starting in 2026.
The project is being funded by the Province, Interior Health, the West Kootenay Boundary Hospital District, and the Kootenay Boundary Regional Hospital Health Foundation.
The current MRI suite at the hospital is housed in a mobile trailer, which the Province noted in a media release limits services for monitored, bariatric, and sedated patients.
The new suite will be in an integrated hospital space and support KBHR as a Regional Oncology Centre, Level 3 Trauma Referral Centre, and Regional Stroke Centre.
The new MRI is also expected to improve imaging accuracy, along with scanning capacity and efficiencies compared to the mobile unit.
The Province stated that the new machine will shorten the duration of a chest scan from 90 to 45 minutes, allowing the hospital to complete more exams and reducing the need for physicians to refer patients to larger sites due to long wait times, resulting in fewer delays in medical interventions.
The Ministry of Health recently approved the business plan for the new suite and awarded the contract for the project to Stantec Architecture.
Construction is planned to begin in the summer of 2026, with completion scheduled for the summer of 2028.
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