Iccha/Wish has announced it will not hold its annual fundraising gala for Royal Inland Hospital this year.
The organization was founded by Al Patel and Anil Parekh in 2007. Since then, it has raised nearly $2.6 million for Royal Inland Hospital and related projects, sourcing its donations from the community via its annual gala and other fundraisers. About $1.5 million of that amount has been given to the hospital in the form of equipment, for construction or to support staff, and there is more still to be donated.
Patel said there is $1.1 million in the organization’s coffers waiting to fully realize a catheterization lab at RIH.
Each year, the organization contributes funds for equipment and spaces at the hospital. Donations include ultrasounds, X-ray machines, heart monitors, neo-natal equipment and more.
But since 2024, Patel has amplified his advocacy for what he says was one of the original causes for the organization: a cardiac care unit and catheterization lab.
While the cardiac care unit was established in 2018, it hasn’t operated for the past five years, with Interior Health pointing to the pandemic and resulting staffing issues as the reason why.
“I’ve given them until January to get this thing started,” Patel said.
Currently, cardiac patients at Royal Inland Hospital are treated and stabilized in the emergency room, but any advanced cases must travel to Kelowna to receive further care.
“It’s not hopeful. I’m demanding. And if it doesn’t happen, guess what? Doctors went on strike? Well, Iccha/Wish fund can go on strike, too.”
In August, Iccha/Wish put forward three urgent priorities for the provincial government and health authority to address. They include immediate restoration of cardiac care unit operations, perform interventional cardiac procedures one day each week at the hospital, and making a commitment to establishing a permanent catheterization lab before the next provincial election, “not just as a campaign promise.”
Patel said he was told the next major investment at the hospital won’t come until 2040.
He said when he heard that, he was enraged and saddened and felt as though his mission has been in vain.
“I’m openly saying it now, our money and our effort of nearly 20 years is down the drain,” Patel said.
Patel said without cardiac care in Kamloops and patients forced to wait and travel to receive care, the city’s growth will be limited.
“That is now the danger for economics in this city. Why would seniors want to settle here when they don’t get the help?” he asked.
Patel said he puts the blame on the NDP government and the way Kamloops votes, saying the government isn’t rewarding regions where their party was not successful.
“Is the government broke? Because they can’t fix this broken system?” he asked.
“If you are accountable to the people who put you up there, do the job, don’t isolate because half of these people didn’t vote NDP,” he said.