Portage la Prairie Doctor Edward Tan is hoping to see a higher capacity for the newly announced hospital.

Tan says, currently, Portage only has four critical care beds with majority of the province's being placed in Winnipeg and Brandon. He explains that one of the goals with the new hospital is to ensure that Portage can provide higher level care.

"Sites like the Portage District General Hospital and Boundary Trails have what we call Specialty Care Units which allow us to take care of the higher level critically ill patients," notes Tan. "Having a new facility that will allow us to expand our clinical and SCU services is something Pallister, Jane Curtis, and everyone at Shared Health is working to achieve."

He adds, normally, those in need of a critical care bed at the smaller sites would have to be transported to Winnipeg immediately. He says a big reason as to why they don't just buy more of these beds is due to the lack of physical space.

"When you have patients that need this higher level care, it just takes a lot more space then a regular medical bed," explains Tan. "Hopefully, this new modern building will allow us to recruit and expand in terms of our medical services."

He notes this doesn't mean they'd be able to help every patient that walks into the new hospital, but the new space should easily allow for more patients and the provision of more services.