The provincial government is committing $1.35 million dollars in operational funding each year starting in 2020-21 to establish a new four-bed Epilepsy Monitoring Unit at Royal University Hospital.

The Royal University Hospital Foundation will then raise $1.2 million dollars to cover the capital and equipment costs.

Corey Miller, Saskatchewan Health Authority Vice President of Provincial Programs says the addition of the new unit will provide improved access to to in-depth diagnostic and treatment services for people with difficult-to-diagnose or difficult-to-treat seizures or epilepsy.

The new four-bed Epilepsy Monitoring Unit will monitor the electrical activity in a patient’s brain over an extended time to determine if surgery would benefit the patient. There is no set date for the opening of the new unit.

Two beds equipped for pediatric epilepsy telemetry services will also become available for children in the fall when the Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital opens.

Approximately 10,500 people in Saskatchewan live with epilepsy.