HALIFAX – The Victoria General site of the QEII Hospital has a long history of problems, the latest being a devastating flood that caused significant damage to three floors last Thursday night.
The flood meant the loss of 34 beds, and the eye-clinic can now handle only a third of the patients it normally does. 150 surgeries were immediately cancelled, and there is still no word on when they may be rescheduled.
The flood happened after a pipe burst on the fifth floor, which the government says was a result of a corroded joint where two different pieces of pipe met, causing water to flood that entire floor, as well as parts of the fourth and third floors.
READ MORE: “Why is it raining in the elevator?” Flood at QEII VG site causes major problems
The flood and major damage has some wondering if the entire debacle could have been prevented. Health Minister Leo Glavine said that the age of the building suggests not.
“You know, (it’s a) 67-year-old building, and doing renovations 20 yeas ago, probably not,” he said.
Glavine took a tour of the hospital on Monday to get an idea of the extent of the damage. Maintenance staff were also inside sampling the walls on Monday to try to get an idea of the types of repairs that would be needed.
The flood also has critics questioning the condition of hospital itself, as this is the second time in only a few months that hundreds of surgeries have been cancelled due to the condition of the building.
- Canadian man dies during Texas Ironman event. His widow wants answers as to why
- ‘Sciatica was gone’: hospital performs robot-assisted spinal surgery in Canadian first
- Honda’s $15B Ontario EV plant marks ‘historic day,’ Trudeau says
- Several baby products have been recalled by Health Canada. Here’s the list
“It’s like having a house with a bad roof, and it’s rotten, and there’s water coming in, so at some point instead of putting a patch on it, at some point you’ve got to replace the roof,” said Ken West of the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
Replacing the roof, or in this case the entire hospital, is something James Hutt with the Nova Scotia Health Coalition would like to see happen sooner or later. He says both levels of government are lagging behind when it comes to making these important changes.
“They cut, they cut and they cut until something explodes, and then they try to deal with it,” Hutt said.
The government maintains that replacing the hospital is in the works, and the recent events are moving things along.
With files from Steve Silva, The Canadian Press.
Comments