{"id":37920,"date":"2025-07-31T22:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T22:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/37920\/"},"modified":"2025-07-31T22:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-31T22:43:08","slug":"p-e-i-government-buys-land-for-new-kings-county-hospital-cost-and-timeline-unclear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/37920\/","title":{"rendered":"P.E.I. government buys land for new Kings County hospital; cost and timeline unclear"},"content":{"rendered":"

The province\u00a0announced Thursday the location of a new\u00a0hospital in eastern P.E.I.\u00a0\u2014 but it’s still unclear how long the project will take or what it will cost.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a news release, the province said it had purchased a 34-hectare plot of land\u00a0in Three Rivers,\u00a0on the outskirts of Montague off of Route 4, the A.A. MacDonald Highway.\u00a0The province paid $900,000 for the land.<\/p>\n

The new facility will replace the aging Kings County Memorial, a 30-bed community hospital that has served the region since it was built in 1971. A new community health centre will also be built\u00a0on the site.<\/p>\n

“This is a major infrastructure project,” said P.E.I. Premier Rob Lantz.\u00a0“It will take time. We’re probably\u00a0on a matter of years here to get [it] completed.”<\/p>\n

WATCH | Location announced for new hospital in eastern P.E.I.:\"\"<\/p>\n

Location announced for new hospital in eastern P.E.I.<\/p>\n

The provincial government announced that it’s purchased land to build a new hospital and community health centre in Three Rivers. The project is still years away from completion, but consultations will begin soon. CBC\u2019s Laura Meader has the details. <\/p>\n

Plans to replace the aging KCMH were first included in the province’s 2021 capital budget<\/a>, which set aside $13.3 million over five years for the planning process.\u00a0At the time, the province said\u00a0construction on the new facility would start in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Thursday, officials couldn’t say when construction on the new hospital would begin or when it might be completed. But the province did say\u00a0the\u00a0next phase will involve site planning and months of consultations with community members, staff and other stakeholders. The cost won’t be determined\u00a0until the design is finalized.<\/p>\n

Three Rivers Mayor Debbie Johnston said\u00a0the new hospital can’t come soon enough.<\/p>\n

“It really is great news,” she said. “It’s a great day for… not only Three Rivers but all of the 25,000 people in Eastern Kings because\u00a0this hospital will serve a lot of people and it’s very much needed.”<\/p>\n

The KCMH\u00a0emergency department has faced frequent closures in recent years<\/a> due to physician and nurse\u00a0shortages.<\/p>\n

\"SidePlans to develop a new Kings County Memorial Hospital were first included in the province’s 2021 capital budget. (Shane Hennessey\/CBC)<\/p>\n

“It’s a challenge for families when people have to leave Kings County,” said\u00a0Ray Brow with the Kings County Memorial Hospital Foundation. “The more we have here the better, and it will make Kings County a better place to live.”<\/p>\n

Tara Roche with Community Hospitals East\u00a0hopes a new building could also help with recruitment of health staff.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Staff like to work in in a modernized new building with new equipment and\u00a0more appropriate technology.”<\/p>\n

Public consultations are expected to begin in September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The province\u00a0announced Thursday the location of a new\u00a0hospital in eastern P.E.I.\u00a0\u2014 but it’s still unclear how long the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37921,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[49,48,84,392],"class_list":["post-37920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37920","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37920"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37920\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37920"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37920"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37920"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}