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SickKids hospital to begin ramping surgeries back up as respiratory surge abates

Toronto SickKids Hospital in Toronto is shown on Thursday April 5, 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Doug Ives

Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children says it will begin increasing surgeries on Monday.

SickKids — Canada’s largest pediatric hospital — decided to ramp down surgeries in mid-November in order to redeploy staff to its overwhelmed intensive care unit and emergency department.

Pediatric hospitals across Ontario have had to cancel surgeries in order to deal with a major surge in respiratory illnesses.

SickKids says it has seen the number of patients stabilize to volumes usually seen this time of year.

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Associate Chief of Perioperative Services Dr. Simon Kelley says these past few months has been the most challenging time in the hospital’s history.

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Six of its 16 operating rooms were shut down during the past two months, but they continued to provide emergency and time-sensitive surgeries during that difficult stretch.

Click to play video: 'Ambulances dedicated to SickKids Hospital for patient transfers'
Ambulances dedicated to SickKids Hospital for patient transfers

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