More than 100 non-urgent surgeries have been postponed due to equipment failure at Pierre-Boucher Hospital on Montreal’s South Shore.
Sterilizers for medical instruments used in surgeries failed to meet visual inspection, according to the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Est.
No patients have been put at risk and a contingency plan was quickly implemented.
Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Est told CityNews in a statement:
“We confirm that an equipment failure has occurred at the medical device reprocessing unit at Pierre-Boucher Hospital. Indeed, the sterilized packaging did not comply with the visual inspection. We would like to reassure clients: No patient was put at risk and our contingency plan was quickly put in place. All urgent surgeries were maintained and performed. Although some non-urgent surgeries have had to be postponed, we obviously understand the impact on the patients concerned and are doing everything possible to return to normal as quickly as possible. Specifically, between February 20 and 27, a total of 111 elective surgeries were postponed, which represents approximately 15 per cent of our surgeries: operating theatre: 53 patients and minor surgeries : 58 patients.”
A total of 111 non-urgent surgeries were postponed between February 20 and 27, which represents approximately 15 per cent of the hospital’s planned surgeries.
There are no cancellations planned for next week. The hospital expects to return to regular activities on March 9.
