Sunday, November 07, 2021

Alberta cancelled estimated 15,000 surgeries to create fourth-wave capacity

It's the first time the United Conservative government has provided the number of surgeries that had to be postponed in recent months


Author of the article: Jason Herring
Publishing date: Nov 04, 2021 • 
NEW Health Minister Jason Copping provided an update on COVID-19 and the ongoing work to protect public health at the McDougall Centre in Calgary on Tuesday, September 28, 2021. PHOTO BY DARREN MAKOWICHUK/POSTMEDIA
Article content

Alberta cancelled an estimated 15,000 surgeries as it scrambled to preserve health-care capacity during the fourth wave of COVID-19, the province’s health minister confirmed Thursday.

It’s the first time the United Conservative government has provided the number of surgeries that had to be postponed in recent months when the province took drastic steps to free up space in its health-care system. Those measures included cancelling all scheduled elective surgeries in the Calgary area near the beginning of September and closing 75 per cent of operating rooms at the Alberta Children’s Hospital.

“I indicated earlier today that we postponed, unfortunately, roughly 15,000 surgeries. To put that into context, in the first three waves, 30,000 surgeries were postponed,” Health Minister Jason Copping said in the legislature Thursday.

“It is incredibly unfortunate that we have had to cancel more surgeries to be able to deal with the fourth wave, but we are working on a plan not only to be able to get caught up at this point in time, but to be able to show Albertans how we can actually get caught up and then exceed moving forward.”

NDP health critic David Shepherd fired back, charging that the “unfortunate” circumstance was the result of decisions made by government as the fourth wave was ramping up.


“It is heartbreaking to think of 15,000 Albertans and their families and the stress they were forced to endure because of this government’s failure to act when it mattered most,” Shepherd said in a news release following the exchange in legislature.

NDP health critic David Shepherd during a press conference in Edmonton on Tuesday, Sept. 28, 2021
PHOTO BY DAVID BLOOM/POSTMEDIA

On Wednesday, Copping announced Alberta’s surgeries had returned to about two-thirds of normal levels, with cancer surgeries fully resumed. He said the fourth wave “continues to take a toll” but triaging is ongoing to prioritize treatment for those who are sickest.

Pressures on Alberta’s hospitals and intensive-care units from COVID-19 continue to ease but remain high. The province reported Thursday there are now 677 Albertans in hospital with the virus, 146 of whom are in ICUs.

Elsewhere Thursday, Alberta reported an additional 516 cases of COVID-19, a three per cent decrease from the number of new infections tallied a week earlier. The new cases come from 12,388 tests, representing a 4.2 per cent positivity rate. There are now 6,515 active COVID-19 cases in Alberta, the fewest since Aug. 18.

Recovery from the fourth wave is progressing more slowly in Alberta’s rural health zones, which also have lower immunization rates against the novel coronavirus.

The Alberta Health Services Calgary and Edmonton zones have just under half of all active cases, despite representing 71 per cent of Alberta’s population. Conversely, the North zone, which only has 11 per cent of Alberta’s population, is home to 22 per cent of active cases.

Among Albertans aged 12 and older, the group currently eligible for vaccines, 87.3 per cent have received at least one dose and 80.7 per cent have both necessary shots.

jherring@postmedia.com

Twitter: @jasonfherring

No comments:

Post a Comment