Patients who have had their surgeries postponed due to COVID-19 have not been forgotten, says Interior Health.
The surgery renewal commitment was announced by the Minister of Health, Adrian Dix, on May 7th and the health authority says ‘surgery renewal is well underway’.
Interior Health says 16 facilities across its region are delivering scheduled surgeries in addition to emergency and urgent procedures.
“Scheduled surgeries resumed on May 18th, and by June 7th, we completed 2,018 scheduled surgeries and 777 unscheduled surgeries, for a total of 2,795 surgeries,” Doug Cochrane, Interior Health’s board chair, said in a release.
IHA says the first phase of surgery renewal is focused on patients that need urgent surgeries.
“Surgeries that can be safely conducted as day procedures or outside of the main operating room, such as cataract surgeries, are also part of this first phase.”
Patients will be chosen on needs based on urgency, prior postponements and time waited for surgery, according to IH.
Interior Health says they will be looking for ways to increase operating room hours with the goal of supporting more procedures in mind.