Special news item

Statement by David Culver and Dr. Arthur T. Porter in response to the Government's seal of approval of the MUHC's Redevelopment Project

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) welcomes the Quebec Government's approval of the MUHC's Redevelopment Plan. This is great news for the community, and everyone at the MUHC. We now know for certain we will have the means to develop future-ready facilities and offer our patients and their families the highest level of care, which they so rightly deserve.

The Minister's announcement is the most important milestone since we merged the five institutions and embarked on this journey to bring Montrealers — indeed Quebecers — world-class health care. Our goal is to maintain and boost the quality of our patient care, teaching and research and to continue as a global leader in each of these areas. We thank the Minister for his confidence and the Quebec Government for its support.

Planning a healthcare centre of the future is an extraordinarily complex task that has involved literally thousands of hours and we have already launched the next phase of our plan. Just recently, the Board of Directors of the MUHC approved our strategic direction, which we defined after an intense consultation process with our professional councils, managers, medical leaders and patients. We have since created eight task forces that will be responsible for establishing the final distribution of services at the Glen and Mountain (Montreal General Hospital) sites. They will also identify the actions required to ensure a smooth and efficient transition of services from our five hospitals to our two sites and make certain that the necessary steps take place.

We want to thank everyone who works at the MUHC and McGill University for the time and creativity they have devoted to date. And we want to thank the many volunteers who continue to bring their sense of service and expertise to our plans. One thing is clear: we all believe in patient- and family-centric care centres of excellence. This will be the driving force behind everything we do moving forward.

We still have a road ahead of us and we will work with the Minister to begin preparation of the Glen site right away.