Construction set to start on $127M new hospital in Neepawa

A new hospital to replace the smaller health centre currently serving the community of Neepawa is moving closer to reality.

Preparations for construction on the property — nearly 40 acres of farmland on the town's east side — are slated to begin in two weeks, Health Minister Audrey Gordon announced on Monday.

The new facility, which will be nearly four times the size of the existing centre, will have 63 acute care inpatient beds, which is a jump from the 38 at the current site.

It will also have an expanded emergency department, a trauma room, stretcher and ambulance bays, and more space for programs such as for surgery, diagnostics, palliative care, dialysis and chemotherapy.

Renal services will also be established in the community for the first time at the new site, following a review of the number and frequency of patients travelling for dialysis treatment, a news release from the province said.

There are currently 28 hemodialysis patients living in the catchment area who could potentially benefit from the new, eight-station unit in Neepawa, about 160 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

Construction crews are scheduled to be on the site — east of Lions Riverbend Campground near Highway 16 — the first week of November.

Scheduled for completion in 2025, the hospital's price tag is estimated to be "at least $127 million," the provincial news release said.