The municipality will be supplying the West Nipissing General Hospital with $50,000 for the operation of its CT Scanner.
After council discussions last night, council voted to take the $50,000 from surplus, as to not affect the projected 2% increase in taxes.
A resolution will be at the next council meeting.
The CT scanner first went live on November 9.
WNGH CEO Cynthia Desormiers had asked council for a potential $7.50 levy per community household a year (which would be approximately $50,000) for ten years back in January.
That, however, doesn’t comply with the Municipal Act, and the town would need to add an item to their budget for a flat amount instead.
In the end, council decided to contribute the money for 2021 and look at various other options in the future as well as contact the Ministry of Health for potential additional hospital funding.
Desormiers says the financial contribution from the municipality was generous and greatly appreciated. She adds the hospital obtained approval to purchase and operate the CT scanner because it was self-funded.
“The Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care does not provide financial support to purchase or operate a CT scanner,” she said. “This $50,000 is yet to be ratified but will be used to support costs associated with the CT scanner such as specific supplies at a cost of about $43,000/year, a service contract of $140-149K per year along with other operations costs.”
The scanner was purchased and implemented at a cost of $1.8M.
The CT scanner operates seven days per week at WNGH for emergency department patients, inpatients and outpatients that are scheduled accordingly.
“Overall we are very pleased with how our CT scanner is operating and the great benefit is has provided to our community members and ensuring they do not need to travel unnecessary outside of our community for this service,” finished Desormiers.