Sophie Gray
Local Journalism Initiative
B.C. residents who have had their surgeries on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic may get some good news as elective surgeries are scheduled to begin May 18.
The province announced details about how they will tackle the backlog of elective surgeries cancelled during the early days of COVID-19 restrictions on Thursday.
The $250-million plan will include calling patients this week who had surgeries cancelled, adding new capacity to the surgical system and hiring and training many new staff.
“Our commitment is now to get patients through their surgery safely, It is a massive undertaking, but we are giving the same 100 percent effort to the task that we’ve made to flatten the curve in B.C.” said Dix.
All elective surgeries were cancelled on March 16. Since then, 30,000 non-urgent elective surgeries have been cancelled while 24,000 new procedures now also need to be scheduled. That backlog poses a challenge for health authorities in the province who are still battling against new cases of COVID-19 everyday.
Patients will be prioritized as the provincial health authorities determine priorities and what surgeries can be done most safely at this time.
“We’re making sure that those patients needing surgery most will have their surgery scheduled first,” Dix said in a statement.
Concerns have been raised over the safety of patients whose surgeries need to take place in hospitals dealing with COVID-19.
Horgan urged the public that he knows people may be nervous, but the province and the medical system are doing everything they can to ensure people get their procedures safely.
“Every precaution that can be taken, has been taken,” said the Premier.
The province aims to clear the existing backlog of elective surgeries in the next 17 to 24 months, while also keeping up with the demand for new procedures.
