SaskatchewanThe $27-million virtual health hub plans to use robotics and artificial intelligence to offer virtual health care to remote and rural communities in Saskatchewan and, eventually, across the country. Hub to use robotics, AI to offer health care to Saskatchewan patientsAliyah Marko-Omene · CBC News · Posted: Sep 12, 2025 7:31 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoWhitecap Dakota First Nation Chief Darcy Bear, left, speaks Friday at the construction site for a new virtual health hub that will serve residents across the province. (CBC News)Construction has begun on a virtual health hub based at Whitecap Dakota First Nation, about 30 kilometres south of Saskatoon.The $27-million hub, announced last May, plans to use robotics and artificial intelligence to offer virtual health care to remote and rural communities in Saskatchewan and, eventually, across the country. A team of physicians, nurses and other health-care workers will be able to remotely assess patients in their home communities in real time.The Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies (SIIT) will help run the hub and train students to staff it.”This is the team that is really going to make sure we can provide care where care is needed,” Dr. Ivar Mendez told reporters at the construction site Friday afternoon. He said the virtual health hub was created to deliver health care to the “most underserved communities” in the province.Mendez pointed out that people have now become afraid to go to the emergency room because they know they are going to have to wait “eight to 10 hours” to be seen. He said the virtual health hub’s use of robotics, artificial intelligence and advanced 5G communications could fill a gap in the health-care system.Whitecap Dakota First Nation Chief Darcy Bear said pilot projects are already underway in the province. Referring to a recent pilot project at the Parkridge Centre in Saskatoon, Bear said that in one month, 58 people asked to be taken to the emergency room, but because of the technology available, only eight people ended up being transferred. “This is the kind of work we’re doing now,” said Bear. An artist’s rendering of the Virtual Health Hub on the Whitecap Dakota First Nation. Health-care teams at the hub will offer remote medical services to patients in northern and rural communities when it opens in 2026. (Submitted by Virtual Health Hub)Health Minister Jeremy Cockrill said it’s “exciting” to see the excavation complete and construction ready to start. He said the government is also excited about the training facility being developed on the First Nation with the Saskatchewan Indian Institute of Technologies.”Once those trainees graduate, they will be able to set up equipment in remote communities across the province and assist patients with their virtual appointments,” Cockrill said.The province is providing $9.1 million in funding and the federal government has committed $18.2 million.The hub is slated to open in 2026. Thirty communities will have access to the hub when it opens, with more expected to be added every year. ABOUT THE AUTHORAliyah Marko-Omene is a reporter for CBC Saskatchewan. She has previously worked for CBC and Toronto Star in Toronto. You can reach her at aliyah.marko@cbc.ca.
Construction underway on virtual health hub at Whitecap Dakota First Nation
