Sask. children's hospital remains a priority despite provincial deficit

Construction on the new children’s hospital in Saskatoon is 33 per cent complete.

It’s slated to open in late 2019.

Health Minister Jim Reiter joined several health executives to tour the progress of construction on Friday morning.

“Parents will now be coming right here in our province,” Reiter said, in response to a lot of families having to travel to the Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton Alta.

“We’re pretty excited to offer a service like this one,” he said.

The $285 million project is still on budget.

“This will also help free up space at Royal University Hospital and St. Paul’s to address the overcrowding problem,” Reiter said. “Children will move from those centres to this one, so the math will work out to alleviate pressures.”

With the provinces $1 billion dollar deficit, $64 million is being slashed from the health budget.

But Reiter said this project will not be affected.

The hospital will feature a neonatal intensive care unit, maternal care unit, and pediatric inpatient unit.

“I’m really excited about the maternal floor because it will mean less moving around for families who are having a child,” said Saskatoon Health Region Vice President, Jackie Mann.

“It will do wonders to make our families feel more comfortable in the province,” she said.

The hospital has enough concrete to fill 8.5 Olympic size swimming pools.