Surgeries near normal levels, minister says

The weekly number of surgeries in the province has almost returned to normal levels, Health Minister Adrian Dix said Thursday.

In yet another sign of optimism for B.C.’s gradual reopening, 5,995 surgeries were performed last week, just shy of the pre-COVID weekly average of 6,000.

“That’s 4½ times what we were doing in the middle of April,” said Dix.

In the second week of April, the low point for the province, the health-care system performed just 972 scheduled surgeries and 1,104 unscheduled.

B.C. health officials cancelled or put off roughly 30,000 surgeries at the first sign of COVID-19 back in March, making space for a potential surge in hospitalizations. That never fully materialized, but the move has been credited with saving lives during the first wave of the pandemic in B.C.

It also created a significant backlog and, in May, Dix announced “a hugely ambitious plan” to first bring the system back up to speed, then clear the two-month backlog over the next 17 to 24 months.

Thursday’s numbers put the health-care system on track to be back at 100 per cent capacity by June 15, as planned, allowing the ministry to get on with incrementally adding capacity over the next three months. “This represents a real achievement for the healthcare system,” said Dix.

COVID-19 hospitalizations remain low in British Columbia. The number of people being treated in hospital rose to 13 on Thursday with the admission of a fifth individual to intensive care.

Dix and the provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, reported 14 new coronavirus cases in B.C. Thursday. There are 183 active COVID-19 cases in the province.

The death toll remains at 167, as B.C. has now gone six days without a COVID-19-related death.