British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix says the latest report on surgery volumes in the province “demonstrates the strength” of the surgical system.
Dix made the comment as the Health Ministry released its mid-year progress report on the New Democrat government’s surgical renewal commitment.
The report says 99.9 per cent of patients whose surgeries were postponed during the first wave of COVID-19 have now had their procedure, while 99.2 per cent of surgeries stalled by the second or third waves of the virus have also been completed.
The surgical renewal commitment also aims to book and provide surgeries that were not scheduled due to the pandemic, and to change the way surgeries are delivered provincewide, so patients are treated more quickly.
Dix said the progress report shows surgery volumes now exceed pre-pandemic levels.
He said results of the surgical renewal commitment report demonstrate that “when surgeries are postponed, patients quickly have them rescheduled.”