A latest study has revealed that about a third of Canadians live too far away from a medical facility or hospital which is specialized and provides the best available treatment for cardiovascular attacks.

The authors of the study, however, have argued that the number is pretty good when keeping in view the large and sparsely populated country where many people anyways live away from major urban regions.

For the sake of study, researchers from the University of Calgary analyzed the number of Canadians aged 40 and above living within an hour of a medical facility which is well equipped to undertake an emergency angioplasty, a specialized procedure in which surgeons open a blocked blood vessel to the heart.

While over 70% of people living in Ontario can gain access to the treatment within an hour's time, only about 15.8% population residing in New Brunswick can do so. Some other area like Prince Edward Island and the three territories, on the other hand, do not have a facility which performs the treatment.

"One way to view the number is to view it negatively and say, 'oh, isn't it bad that 35 per cent can't get there within an hour'. My take is actual more of a positive one, that it's quite positive that two-thirds of the population can get access within an hour", said Senior Author Dr. William Ghali.