https://images.glaciermedia.ca/polopoly_fs/1.24202756.1600107067!/fileImage/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_804/tc-27699-web-09142020-lungcancer-1-jpg.jpg
Premier John Horgan makes an announcement about a new early detection screening program for lung cancer, the first of its kind in Canada, on Monday, Sept. 14, 2020. PROVINCE OF B.C.

B.C.'s new lung cancer screening program the first of its kind in Canada: premier

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B.C. is launching a new lung cancer screening program — the first of its kind in Canada — Premier John Horgan announced Monday.

The program is exepcted to be fully operational by 2022.

Horgan said it’s the first such program in Canada. “This program has been needed for a long, long time.”

One in two British Columbians will have cancer diagnosed, and lung cancer is the most common and the most deadly, said medical oncologist Dr. Kim Chi, vice-president and chief medical officer of B.C. Cancer.

The screening program has been under trial for several years. It involves a low-dose CT scan and “is not painful,” said Health Minister Adrian Dix. The target population for screening is adults age 55 to 74.

“Once it’s up and running these clinics will see up to 20,000 patients a year,” said Horgan.

ceharnett@timescolonist.com