The Mosaic Heart Centre at the Regina General Hospital is about to receive the missing link to their Cardiac Program.

The Kinsmen Telemiracle Foundation have announced a $1.25 million donation to the Hospitals of Regina Foundation to establish an Electrophysiology lab: the first of its kind in the province.

"The donation means improved health care," said Joan Steckhan, Executive Director of the Telemiracle Foundation. "It means that people in this province are going to be able to access medical attention here at home, not have to leave the province, and that people that have a particular condition aren't going to have to have a life on medication," Steckhan said.

"What it really means," said Laurie Garchinsky, Director of the Cardiac Sciences Program for the Regina Qu'appelle Health Region, "is the opportunity to treat patients at home dealing with electrical disturbances of their heart so no longer are they going to have to travel out of province for this type of therapy."

Dr. George Garbe - an MD Cardiologist - said the nearest electrophysiology labs are in Calgary and Winnipeg. A new lab in Regina can provide the complex treatment needed for people with common heart problems.  

"Cardiac arrhythmia or irregularities of the heart are an extremely common problem and cause a lot of disability for many patients and an increased risk of sudden death," said Dr. Garbe.

"These very advanced treatments are very complex and require a high-tech environment for their management," he said. "They require highly-trained, super-specialized doctors to provide that... and by having this laboratory, we will have the environment." 

Due to a lack of fully-trained electrophysiologists in Regina, specialists will have to be recruited from out of province to operate the new lab.

Last year, approximatelyb 700 patients were admitted to the Regina Qu'appelle Health Region for atrial fibrillation, the most common type of arrhythmia.

The new lab is expected to open within a year's time.