A delay in the launch of two new radiation machines at Newfoundland and Labrador's largest hospital means people will continue to be sent out of the province for treatment.
The new machines at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's were supposed to be operating in October, but it's likely they won't open until April due to construction delays.
Eastern Health oncologist Dr. Pradip Ganguly was frustrated by the delay, saying the explanation that the construction industry in Newfoundland is always like that was "inexcusable."
Ganguly said the delay will add to the millions of dollars the province has already spent sending people out of the province.
"Every day we send patients, that's an extra cost, you know. We've already extended our contract once with the Princess Margaret Hospital … which was end of December, because I thought we should be able to handle it by then. But now I'm just about to e-mail Princess Margaret Hospital to extend our contract to the end of April," he said.
Former cancer patient Joyce Brown said it would have been less stressful if she hadn't needed to go to Toronto last June for treatment after two surgeries for breast cancer.
"I would loved to have been home and, like you say, sleep in your own bed every night. I could have gone back and forth and had my treatments and came to work everyday, but it didn't work out that way," she said.
The provincial government has sent 128 people out of the province for radiation treatment since May 2006.
The addition of the two new machines will double the number of people who can get radiation treatments in the province from 60 a day to 120.
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