The Yukon Hospital Corp. announced plans Thursday to proceed with a new hospital facility in Watson Lake.

The corporation has decided it will use the shell of what was originally to be a new multi-level care facility as the starting point for the new hospital, corporation chair Craig Tuton said in a video-conference from the community of 1,500.

"What this does is allow the community of Watson Lake to receive a new facility, a state-of-the-art facility," Tuton told reporters.

Tuton was accompanied for the announcement by Health Minister Glenn Hart, Watson Lake resident Richard Durocher, a member of the board of trustees for the corporation, and Watson Lake doctor Said Secerbegovic.

Tuton explained while the current estimate for construction is a further $17 million on top of what's already been spent, a firmer estimate won't be available until they finalize design plans.

The corporation will spend the next couple of months preparing a request for proposals for the architectural engineering work, he said.

It's expected construction will begin next year, with completion scheduled for 2012.

Hart said from a structural perspective, the current hospital building has another nine or 10 years of life. What will happen to it after the new hospital is complete - whether it will be torn down or another use found for it - has not yet been determined, Hart said.

Opposition critics have accused Premier Dennis Fentie of mismanaging the multi-level care facility for his hometown riding from the very start, beginning with awarding sole-source management contracts before the final design was even complete.

They've suggested Fentie has created plans for a new hospital only as a means of deflecting blame for a project that was becoming grossly over budget and years behind schedule.

The premier, however, maintains the need for a new hospital facility was only determined once the roof and walls of the existing hospital were opened up in preparation for tying into the adjacent multi-level care facility.

The local physician said the new facility and advances in medical service will be welcomed in the community, which is on the main artery for tourist travel and is in the middle of a growing boom in the mining industry.

The hospital corporation, said Secerbegovic, has demonstrated its ability to manage and delivery quality health care services at the Whitehorse General Hospital.

"All in all, I think it is the best thing that has happened to Watson Lake in the 25 years I have been here."

The current 12-bed facility serves a population of 1,800 in Watson Lake and the surrounding catchment area. The total population of the catchment area is expected to grow to 2,050 by 2018, according to numbers presented yesterday.

The Yukon government announced late last summer that it was changing direction with the multi-level care facility. It contracted the Whitehorse firm of Kobayashi & Zedda Architects to assess what structural and other renovations would be required to bring the structure up to building code-standards for hospitals.

Early this year, Tuton announced the hospital corporation would look into taking over responsibility of the Watson Lake Hospital and its staff.

The exercise was to include an assessment of the multi-level care facility and its suitability as a hospital.

The $17 million preliminary estimate, according to numbers provided, is a ball park figure. The final cost could come as high as $22 million, or as low as $14 million, numbers indicate.

The cost does not include equipment or furnishings that will be required for the new hospital.

Nor does it include the $2.5 million spent on construction to date, or the $2-million plus spent on design work and engineering for the multi-level care facility.

Given the preliminary estimate of $17 million and the $2.5 million already spent on construction, the preliminary project estimate of $19.5 million is almost $2 million less than the $21.4 million estimated for a new hospital starting from scratch.

Included in the costs to convert the multi-level care facility are:

• replacing the roof insulation and membrane because of the possible entrapment of water;

• relocation of some steel columns;

• removal and replacement of wall panels because of water entrapment;

• relocation and or resizing of windows;

• ripping up the concrete slab to re-plumb for hospital standards;

• new covered awning entrance;

When completed, the new hospital will be about the same size, with the same same 12-bed capacity, Tuton explained.

He said there may be a requirement for a modest addition of 55 square metres, though that won't be determined until the architectural engineering is complete.

Tuton acknowledged there was some concern initially among Watson Lake residents about the prospect of using the vacant shell as the starting point for their new hospital.

"But today, there is no concern," he said. "The right thing to do is use the existing shell for the new hospital, and that is what we intend to do."