Some health professionals have likened parts of the Montreal General Hospital to working in the dark ages, but Media has learned that initial planning has finally begun for a significant modernization project worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
“I think it’s a very good idea,” said Dr. Christopher Labos, a Montreal cardiologist. “I think it’s necessary. We need to keep updating our infrastructure.”
In a statement to Media, the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), which oversees the hospital, writes, “our primary goal is to renovate the inpatient units to allow for single patient rooms with individual bathrooms, aligning with the modern standard for patient well-being and infection control in healthcare settings.”
“Currently in the initial planning phase, the focus for this year will be on prioritizing renovation needs and planning various phases of the works. Additionally, we will be completing the necessary documentation required by the MSSS for major infrastructure projects.”
For health professionals like Labos who say many of the city’s older hospitals are in bad shape, the details of what’s planned for the General make sense, especially the plan for single-patient rooms.
“(It) is, I think, in keeping with the general consensus that for infection control measures, single-patient rooms are better,” he pointed out.Talk about revamping the aging hospital goes back more than a decade, and the Quebec Liberals announced a modernization project in 2018.