Some surgeries set to resume at hospital

Alberta Health Services is on track to resume some elective surgeries at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital effective today.

According to a press release by AHS, some surgeries are set to go ahead today, but some will be postponed to allow higher-priority surgeries to take place.

AHS says the medical equipment is being reprocessed at other sites, which allows the high-priority surgeries to take place. Emergency and urgent surgeries will continue at the facility.

According to the release, 106 postponements have taken place between May 913, and the decision on any additional postponements will depend on progress made on resolving the water quality concern that is still currently impacting AHS’s ability to sterilize and reprocess medical devices at this site.

“We have made significant progress in identifying the root causes of this issue, and are now working hard to ensure medical device reprocessing can resume. Water quality testing and monitoring will be ongoing,” AHS stated in the release.

Patients will be contacted if there is any change to their surgical plan. Those patients affected by the surgical postponements will be contacted by their surgeon’s office to reschedule procedures as soon as possible.

Affected patients, or patients who are concerned about this issue, can call Site Administration at 403-5028648 (ext. 1509) during regular business hours, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.