The chief of staff at Windsor Regional Hospital believes an expanded cardiac catheterization lab will help with the recruitment of more highly trained physicians.
Dr. Wassim Saad says they are the only cardiac catheterization lab in the province that runs off one table and it has limited their ability to recruit highly trained cardiologists.
Sylvia Jones, Deputy Premier and Minister of Health, announced Thursday in Windsor that the province is investing $30-million in the current hospital to renovate and expand its cardiac catheterization lab, currently operating 24-hours a day, to add a second catheterization table.
The cardiac catheterization lab provides patients with angiograms, angioplasties and other minimally invasive cardiac tests and procedures.
Currently there are seven cardiologists and three interventional cardiologists on staff, with those three providing 24-7 cardiac cath lab care.
The hospital currently handles over 2,000 cardiac procedures a year and officials say the addition of a second table could double that figure.
Dr. Saad says they need at least one more interventional cardiologist.
"The workload right now, as I said, one in three calls is a 24-7 call, where you could be called in the middle of the night for a heart attack. It's quite onerous on our staff. Ideally at least one or two, I think a compliment of five for our area for interventional cardiology would be something to aspire to," he says.
Saad says interventional cardiologists are highly sought after.
"These jobs are picked up very quickly. People when they enter their training usually have a promise of a job somewhere," he says. "We would love to be able to say 'we have a second cath lab, this is when it's going to be operational, I know you're just starting your fellowship now but when you graduate, this is the place to work.'"
Due to limited access in the past at the current cath lab, patients had to travel to London, two-hours away, or cross the border to Detroit for urgent procedures.
Construction of the expanded cardiac catheterization lab will go to tender by March, 2023 and once that process is complete, it should take 12 to 18 months before the lab is up and running on the second floor of the Ouellette Campus.
The province also announced legislation that would see the credentials of healthcare workers registered in other provinces and territories automatically recognized in Ontario, making it easier for them to get to work as soon as they arrive in the province.