Health infrastructure and lab services Alberta province
The government of Alberta has taken a number of steps in the direction of developing the existing infrastructure of healthcare services and Test Lab Alberta, Calgary, Edmonton and other cities of the province included, which are providing healthcare services to the citizens of Alberta and the associated regions. The provincial government established the Alberta Health Services and the AHS in 2008 for the sole purpose of bringing all their efforts under one umbrella. The government also initiated a 5 year action plan for the in 2010.
Alberta Health Services is the umbrella organisation that looks after the planning, development of infrastructure and delivering health care services to more than 3.5 million people living in the Alberta provincial areas. It governs all the health and medical facilities and Contract Lab Alberta provincial region has and reports directly to the Minister of Health and Wellness.
Originally Alberta had 30 different pieces of messy legislations and the requirement was long overdue for passing a single consolidated act that will ensure the provincial government can take actions on the urgent requirements of the health services in the province. The passing of the Alberta Health Act in 2010 was an important step in this direction and all the original 15 recommendations contained in the report given by the Alberta Health Act consultation report were approved and introduced in the Act which was passed by the legislature.
The government wants to ensure that Albertans can feel that they are in safe hands when they are suffering from any disease. They need to know that their elders can live independent under the care of proper hands whenever the need arises. They need to know that they can get access to proper medical attention as quickly as possible without having to wait for their turn in long lines. That they can get urgent medical attention when they are diagnosed with major ailments and that treatment can be started without unnecessary delays.
Alberta’s 5 year health plan is a 1.5 million dollar project that will ensure the following among other things -
(a) Increase the bed capacity in hospitals by another 360 and adding the capacity to perform 3000 more surgeries.
(b) Expand the Alberta health link
(c) Adding a further 65 trained staff for mental health in schools and clinics
(d) Launch a forum for wellness with the active participation of the community, the business organisations in Alberta and leaders in the health industry.
(e) Adding two more radiation checking centers in Red Deer and one in Grande Prairie. This will be in addition to the radiation checking center that has already been opened up in Lethbridge.
Off late the initiates of the government has seen a lot of changes in how the health system is being reorganized in the Alberta and adjoined regions. The provincial government among other things is trying to centralize, the clinical laboratory testing in the Alberta region. This is similar to the lines that have been adopted recently in Ireland. The provincial government is trying to increase focus in developing an infrastructure which is capable of diagnosing critical diseases like swine flu and mad cow epidemics faster and without having to wait for test results for a long time to start the treatment.
For gathering more info about using Lab Services Alberta, please check out this link.