Manitoba is seeing more same-day joint replacement surgeries being done, making it easier for patients to be treated quicker as they recover at home.
It’s all part of a provincial push for increased surgical capacity, as funding and investments to various healthcare facilities led to about 10 per cent of surgeries last year being completed in just a day.
The Diagnostic and Surgical Recovery Task Force has funded projects that helped to increase overall surgical capacity in the province, including the number of hip and knee surgeries. More than 6,000 procedures were completed last year, with 600 of them funded through the task force.
Dr. Hany Asham, an orthopedic surgeon at the Boundary Trails Health Centre, said same-day surgeries are good for the health-care system and Manitobans in general. It also helps, he noted, in ensuring that hospital beds remain available to those who need them the most.
“Recovering at home after same-day surgery gives patients the comforts of their own environment as they heal and access physiotherapy and rehabilitative treatments as part of our continuum of care,” said Asham.
The health centre is one of the several facilities in the province that provides hip and knee replacement surgeries. Between 2022 and 2023, the centre completed 639 surgeries, which was more than the 139 it planned.
Chair of the task force’s steering committee, Dr. Peter MacDonald, said such surgeries can transform a patient’s life.
“Now that (they) are not only offering same-day joint surgeries across the province but exceeding those targets due to increased capacity, more Manitobans are regaining their mobility and experiencing reduced or eliminated joint pain, faster,” said MacDonald.
The province is currently working on a broader, provincewide plan to build, expand, and renovate health-care facilities in support of Manitoba’s Clinical and Preventive Services Plan.
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