Staff at Toronto’s Michael Garron Hospital (MGH) say 10 patients needed to be transferred to other hospitals due to “potential risks to its oxygen supply” as a result of a high volume of COVID-19 patients requiring oxygen.
Mark Fam, the hospital’s vice-president of programs, issued a statement Thursday afternoon and said the issue was identified earlier in the day.
“Given the demand for oxygen supply was very high, MGH took additional precautionary measures to preserve this resource as we worked on expanding oxygen capacity on-site. Some of these measures included postponing seven surgical cases and diverting some ambulances to reduce the demand for oxygen in the hospital,” he wrote, adding patients weren’t at risk since additional, temporary capacity was brought in.
“We appreciate the assistance and support from our hospital partners as we worked to alleviate some of the pressure on the system and enhanced our oxygen supply at the hospital.”
The temporary issue came at a time when hospitals have been challenged to maintain capacity for patients.
Dr. Adelsteinn Brown, the co-chair of Ontario’s COVID-19 Science Advisory Table, released the latest provincial modelling on Thursday. He outlined how Ontario’s hospitals admitted an all-time number of patients in mid-April.
At the peak of the third wave, almost 2,400 people were hospitalized. However, he said ICU admissions continue to escalate. Currently, there are a record-high number of people (just shy of 900) in critical care beds.
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