Four months into construction, the new Royal Inland Hospital patient care tower is on time and on budget, according to B.C.’s Health Minister.

The $417-million-dollar addition at RIH began being built in November. Adrian Dix says there is a sense of urgency to get the project done in a timely matter.

“That’s an important contribution and part of a long-term initiative in Kamloops. And actually, as Minister of Health, one of the first decisions I made; to proceed and proceed more quickly and maintain the momentum on that project that had been started by my predecessor, Mr. Terry Lake.”

Dix says other initiatives have happened lately relating to health care in Kamloops.

“We’ve increased the number of ambulance paramedics by 24. We’re establishing the cardiac care unit in a few months, and have increased the number of cardiac care doctors from two to six.”

Kamloops mayor Ken Christian says he was updated on the project while meeting face-to-face with Dix last week.

“But I think now is the time that we need to start the planning for phase three, that will be the last phase of the redevelopment. So we want to get on with that, get a planning grant in place and start working on that now.”

The new patient care tower is expected to be done in 2022.