Above watch: Officials have finally found the cause of black spots on surgical equipment that forced the cancellation of over 4-hundred surgeries, but it will take months to get the hospitals back to normal. Natasha Pace reports.
Halifax – 400 and counting; that’s the number of surgeries that have been postponed since a mysterious black residue started appearing on medical equipment at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax earlier this month.
Two hospitals in the city have been affected, the Halifax Infirmary and Victoria General Hospital. A spokesperson for Capital Health tells Global News that between 20 and 25 surgeries are being cancelled everyday at the two locations, half of them are cataract surgeries.
Officials have finally been able to determine the residue was caused by corrosion in the sterilization machines.
“It’s been a frustrating experience working to find out what the actual cause was,” says Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine.
The province is purchasing five new sterilization machines for the hospitals to replace the old ones. Each machine will cost about $100,000. There’s also an additional cost to install the machines, but the health minister says he’ll find the money in the budget.
“We’re not looking at the cost here, the work simply will be done, its necessary to be done, and to be done as quickly as possible,” Glavine says.
It is expected to take two months before the machines are delivered and installed at the two hospitals. In the meantime, it’s anticipated there will be more cancelled surgeries, since they are only operating at 75 per-cent capacity.
“The postponement of surgeries is a major concern for us and we deeply regret the impact on our patients,” says Janet Knox of the Nova Scotia Health Authority.
At this point, no decision has been made on moving surgeries to other hospitals in the province.
“We are in a process of looking at how to we re-plan the surgeries that have been postponed,” Knox tells Global News.
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