Photo: Contributed

A retired Kamloops doctor died in the hospital he served for decades – and his widow says the ordeal exposed gaps in service at Royal Inland Hospital.

Janice Joneja, herself a doctor, took her husband Rajindar to the emergency room at RIH on March 12. The former neurologist and psychiatrist was having chest pains.

Despite a history of cancer and congestive heart failure, he was given two aspirin and told to wait. He died five minutes later, in his wife's arms.

"Very quickly, it was obvious that he was really in acute distress," Janice told CTV.

Janice told a security guard to summon immediate help, but it was too late. Staff were unable to resuscitate him.

The widow now says more training and cardiac services are needed in Kamloops. The closest facility with specialized cardiac resources is in Kelowna.

"Literally, people die en route to Kelowna. That should not be happening in Kamloops," she said.

Better facilities would attract more specialists to Kamloops, she believes, though it's unlikely her husband's outcome would have changed.

Rajindar was the only neurologist in the Interior in the late 1960s, and one of only two psychiatrists.

Janice has expressed her concerns in a letter to the hospital and Health Minister Terry Lake.

Interior Health is reviewing the matter.

– with files from CTV Vancouver