Alberta Health Services says Wednesday’s fire at Shaw Court in downtown Calgary has forced it to postpone elective surgeries scheduled in Calgary for Friday.
The blaze cut critical phone and computer lines, limiting telecommunication services for thousands of customers, including AHS, resulting in the disruption of its email system across the province.
The health department’s computer system is maintained by IBM which operates out of the Shaw building.
AHS says patient information and records are safe, and emergency and urgent care will not be affected.
Get daily National news
Starting Friday, many elective surgeries will have to be cancelled and doctors are also struggling to fill in the gaps left by Calgary Lab Services which can’t access its system either.
Urgent lab tests will go forward over others that are less urgent, which will be prioritized.
AHS hopes to have everything back to normal by Saturday, including elective surgeries.
It has been dealing with a backlog of paperwork as a result of being knocked off-line.
Power was restored to parts of the Shaw building late Thursday night.
Officials with the company say they are working around the clock to bring everyone back online and restoring services to AHS is a top priority.
For more information and updates click here.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.