HEALTHCARE – Stamer, Milobar blast NDP over local cardiac-care gap
(Image: Mel Rothenburger)
Kamloops-Centre MLA and Critic for Finance Peter Milobar and Kamloops-North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer are calling out the NDP government for leaving cardiac patients in the Thompson-Nicola region waiting decades for life-saving services — while local residents are forced to raise millions to fill the gap.
In a news release today (Aug. 12, 2025), the MLAs said the ICCHA-WISH Fund and Kamloops residents have already raised more than $2 million for Royal Inland Hospital (RIH), purchasing state-of-the-art equipment and attracting specialists.
Yet, the said, critical cardiac services are delayed until 2040, forcing more than 1,000 patients a year to endure hours-long transfers to Kelowna General Hospital — delays that can mean the difference between life and death.
With a recently departed cardiologist, Kamloops will have no cardiac care between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
“The NDP’s answer? ‘Schedule’ your heart attack at a hospital two hours away — as if medical emergencies run on their timetable. It’s a gamble with people’s lives, and it’s unacceptable,” said Milobar.
“This is the NDP’s health care legacy in Kamloops,” said Stamer. “They have billions for severance payouts and bloated bureaucracy, but can’t bring urgently needed cardiac intervention here before 2040.”
Milobar said the province’s spending priorities are completely out of step with British Columbians’ needs.
“Kamloops residents have shown extraordinary generosity to fund medical equipment, but they shouldn’t have to fundraise for basic, life-saving care,” he said.
“This is the province’s way of telling people: if you want proper treatment, start a GoFundMe. That’s not a health care plan — that’s an abdication of responsibility.”
The MLAs say the delay reflects a wider crisis across B.C. — ER closures, growing waitlists, and burned-out staff, “while executives walk away with golden parachutes.”
ArmchairMayor.ca 
Yes the NDP is tatally incompetent but it has to be said that it was Gordon Campbell who created the “bloated bureaucracy” and it was the same group that used ICBC and BC Hydro as book cooking vehicles to have a reduced deficit while allowing the drug crisis to explode with the money laundering crimes. It is deplorable to allow Kelowna to get all our health dollars but the blame is not just on the foolish NDP.
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It is truly unfortunate that Kamloops/RIH is lacking cardiac specialists and equipment, and, of course, a PET-CT for the new Cancer Centre. And it’s a travesty that there’s a shortage of family doctors across the province. I agree that there’s a bloated bureaucracy and ridiculous severance payouts. But fixing those issues will not likely affect Kamloops’ share of the health care pot.
Milobar and Stamer (and all the local politicians) can beat their chests, rant and rave and make demands from dawn til dusk and that will not change the situation. It isn’t a matter of “who yells the loudest gets what they want”. Do the math. The population of Metro Vancouver/Lower Mainland is over 3 million people. The population of Vancouver Island is over 870,000. The population of Kamloops and the catchment area in Thompson-Cariboo-Shuswap is about 150,000. The Lower Mainland and the Island will always get priority over the rest of the province. For healthcare and for everything else. That’s where most of the people live. And vote. And it wouldn’t matter what party our MLA’s were from – the rest of B.C. barely enters the thought processes of the provincial government.
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