MCP covers emergency and wound/radiation HBOT at Health Sciences Centre in St. John's.
Quick Answer
Is HBOT covered in Newfoundland and Labrador? Newfoundland and Labrador's only publicly funded hyperbaric chamber is at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's, a monoplace facility with 24/7 emergency coverage. MCP covers HBOT for the 14 Health Canada-recognised conditions with a physician referral. The programme also serves the offshore oil and diving industry on the Grand Banks. Patients in central and western Newfoundland and in Labrador require domestic medical transport to St. John's; there are no private hyperbaric clinics offering treatment in the province.
1
Hospital Programme
0
Private Clinics
1
Total Facility
14
Recognised Conditions
Insurance Program
MCP (Medical Care Plan)
Coverage Type
MCP covers emergency and wound/radiation HBOT at Health Sciences Centre in St. John's.
Wait Times
Emergency indications treated 24/7. Chronic/elective wait times vary by indication and capacity; confirm with the hyperbaric programme directly.
Detailed local guides for each city with HBOT facilities. Each page covers facility contacts, costs, referral steps, and emergency access.
Hospital Programmes
St. John's, NL
Monoplace. 24/7 emergency.
Physician referral to the Health Sciences Centre hyperbaric medicine program in St. John's.
Speak with your family physician or specialist about whether HBOT is appropriate for your condition (one of the 14 Health Canada-recognised indications).
Ask your physician to send a referral to the Health Sciences Centre hyperbaric medicine programme in St. John's, operated through NL Health Services.
Emergency indications are accepted directly through emergency department coordination; the chamber operates 24/7 for true emergencies.
Chronic and elective cases (problem wounds, late effects of radiation, refractory osteomyelitis) are scheduled by the hyperbaric team after initial assessment.
Patients outside the Avalon Peninsula should plan for travel to St. John's; treatment courses commonly run 20 to 40 daily sessions, up to 60 for some radiation indications.
Hyperbaric emergencies in Newfoundland and Labrador (suspected carbon monoxide poisoning, arterial gas embolism, decompression sickness from diving, severe necrotising soft-tissue infection) are routed to the Health Sciences Centre hyperbaric programme in St. John's, which operates 24/7.
Emergency Routing
Call 911 first for any acute medical emergency. The receiving emergency department physician coordinates urgent transfer to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's through NL Health Services' provincial transport system. For diving-related emergencies, the Divers Alert Network (DAN) emergency hotline is 1-919-684-9111 and can advise on the nearest active recompression chamber. The Health Sciences Centre also coordinates with offshore oil-and-gas employers for diving and altitude-related decompression illness on the Grand Banks.
Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services (NL Health Services), formed in April 2023, consolidated four former regional health authorities into a single provincial authority. NL Health Services oversees the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's and its hyperbaric medicine programme. Specialist hyperbaric services across the province are coordinated through this single authority.
Newfoundland and Labrador, like other Canadian provinces, references the 14 conditions identified by Health Canada as accepted indications for hyperbaric oxygen therapy. These include emergency indications (carbon monoxide poisoning, gas embolism, decompression sickness, gas gangrene, necrotising soft-tissue infections, crush injury and acute traumatic ischaemia, severe blood loss anaemia, intracranial abscess, central retinal artery occlusion, sudden sensorineural hearing loss) and chronic/elective indications (problem wounds including diabetic foot ulcers, late effects of radiation, compromised grafts and flaps, refractory osteomyelitis, thermal burns).
Important Note
The Health Sciences Centre serves both the civilian population and the offshore diving and oil-and-gas industry on the Grand Banks. Seaforce Hyperbaric in St. John's is a commercial diving training and research facility, not a public treatment provider. Canada Hyperbarics has no commercial relationship with the Health Sciences Centre or with NL Health Services.
Yes. MCP covers HBOT at the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's for the 14 Health Canada-recognised conditions with a physician referral. There are no other publicly funded hyperbaric facilities in the province.
Yes for public treatment. The Health Sciences Centre in St. John's is the only publicly accessible HBOT facility in the province; it has a monoplace chamber with 24/7 emergency coverage. Seaforce Hyperbaric in St. John's is a commercial diving training and research facility, not a public treatment provider.
Patients outside the Avalon Peninsula are coordinated to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's through their physician and NL Health Services. Travel and accommodation arrangements depend on urgency and patient circumstances; provincial medical transport is arranged for emergencies.
Newfoundland and Labrador references the 14 Health Canada-recognised conditions, which include carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness, gas embolism, gas gangrene, necrotising soft-tissue infections, crush injury, severe anaemia, intracranial abscess, central retinal artery occlusion, sudden sensorineural hearing loss, problem wounds, late effects of radiation, compromised grafts and flaps, refractory osteomyelitis, and thermal burns.
Yes. The Health Sciences Centre hyperbaric programme has long-standing arrangements with the offshore oil-and-gas industry on the Grand Banks for diving-related decompression illness and arterial gas embolism. The programme operates 24/7 for these emergencies.
Most chronic indications require a course of 20 to 40 daily sessions, with some radiation indications requiring up to 60 sessions. Each session typically lasts 90 to 120 minutes. Acute emergencies may require only one or a few treatments.
Call 911. The receiving emergency department coordinates transfer to the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's through NL Health Services' provincial transport system. For diving emergencies, the Divers Alert Network (DAN) hotline at 1-919-684-9111 can advise on the nearest active recompression chamber.
No private hyperbaric clinics offering public treatment are operating in Newfoundland and Labrador as of April 2026.
Last reviewed: 2026-04-23
