The patient care tower at Royal Inland Hospital will soon be reaching new heights.

Kamloops city council has approved a development permit to build the nine-storey tower worth $417 million.

“Currently they have a heli-port near the hospital that requires an ambulance transfer. So it seems a little redundant that you get picked up off the highway and a helicopter land at a heli-port and you get taken 100 yards by an ambulance. But the availability of having that rooftop will mean that patient care will be seamless,” mayor Ken Christian says.

“Royal Inland Hospitals is one of two tertiary hospitals within the IHA and is trauma centre, and as such there is a great deal of medivac activity into that site. And that facility serves not only the residents of Kamloops primarily, but it does serve the entire region. And when you look at the transportation corridors that we have in this region and the unfortunate activities related to accidents and trauma, it’s critically important.”

The new patient tower is expected to be finished in 2022, and Christian says it is “sorely needed” for the region.