Photo: Qikiqtani hospital’s east wing finally opens

Nunavut Health Minister George Hickes cuts a cake to mark the official opening of the Qikiqtani General Hospital’s east wing in Iqaluit, March 15, with elder Enuapik Sagiatook, as Colleen Stockley, the deputy minister of health, looks on with Dennis Stavrou, the executive director of Iqaluit Health Services. The east wing occupies Iqaluit’s original 28-bed hospital building, which opened in 1964 and was replaced when the QGH opened in 2007. Renovations aimed at creating the east wing started in 2012 but were delayed in 2013 after contractor NCC-Dowland vanished from the site following the insolvency of Dowland Contracting Ltd., pushing the project past its original April 2014 completion date. The two-storey section is home to a rapid-access walk-in clinic, specialist clinics, and a territorial pharmacy on the second floor. “It is wonderful that we once again have all of our hospital, health care and administration staff under one roof,” Hickes said. (PHOTO BY PETER VARGA)