Hospitals across Perth and Wellington counties will receive a combined $4.3 million in funding for upgrades and repairs through the province’s Health Infrastructure Renewal Fund, Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae announced in a press release Friday afternoon.
Among those hospitals receiving funding, Stratford General Hospital and Listowel Memorial Hospital will get the largest chunks. Stratford is set to benefit from more than $2.2 million while Listowel getting just shy of $1.1 million. St. Marys Memorial Hospital, meanwhile, will get a little less than $500,000 and the North Wellington Health Care Corporation will receive just a hair more than $560,000.
“This funding is essential for our hospitals to continue providing the best care possible in our rural communities,” Rae said in the release. “The highest-quality care requires the highest-quality equipment and facilities. This funding will provide that.”
“The Ontario Hospital Infrastructure Renewal Program provides consistent, annual funding to support maintaining hospital infrastructure such as boilers, roofs, generators and fire-sprinkler systems,” Listowel and Wingham Hospital Alliance president and CEO Karl Ellis added. “We are grateful that this funding is available to keep our hospital facilities in Listowel and Wingham up to date.”
Through this program, the Ontario government is providing roughly $175 million to hospitals across the province. In addition to the $7.6 million provided to community health-service providers in the province through the Community Infrastructure Renewal Fund, the government says the funding will allow health care-system partners to address urgent infrastructure renewal needs.
“Our government is making investments to ensure Ontario’s hospitals and community health infrastructure continue to be state-of-the-art facilities,” Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones said in the release. “This funding will also help build the capacity we need to end hallway health care and ensure people continue to receive world-class care.”