Leak forces St. B hospital to cancel all surgeries

WINNIPEG – St. Boniface hospital has been forced to cancel all surgeries for the next several days due to a leak in its operating rooms.

In a statement Wednesday afternoon, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority says a heating/ventilation/cooling failure and water leak caused the sudden crisis. Staff were still working to control the leak.

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All elective surgeries are cancelled and emergency surgeries sent to other city hospitals for the time being. “This situation is expected to last for several days,” the WRHA statement says.

St. Boniface is one of only two major teaching hospitals in Winnipeg. The other is Health Sciences Centre in the core area.

Officials told media that 20 to 30 surgeries were cancelled Wednesday. It wasn’t clear how many more would be scrubbed in the coming days. Urgent surgeries were being diverted to HSC and the Grace, which will mean elective surgeries at those hospitals will have to be bumped to make room.