Doctors in Medicine Hat, Lethbridge voice support for more cardiac services
MEDICINE HAT, AB — Several medical professionals in Medicine Hat have written a letter to Premier Rachel Notley, supporting a request for more cardiac services in the region.
The letter, dated Monday and written by internal medicine physicians at the Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, follows a similar letter sent last month by a group of doctors at the Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge, asking the provincial government to consider funding a cardiac catheterization laboratory at the hospital.
The lab allows doctors to test for heart disease, angina and heart rhythm problems. Currently, patients in the South Zone, according to the letter from Lethbridge, Chinook Regional Hospital has been advocating for the lab since 2010, saying patients have to travel to Calgary in order to access the services.
“We will have the patient volume required to support a cardiac catheterization laboratory, locally we have the hospital space already available for this to be built, and we will certainly be able to recruit the expertise to operate the lab,” the Lethbridge Letter reads. “A cardiac catheterization laboratory is an urgent and fundamental need in our community.