Close X
Saturday, November 30, 2024
ADVT 
Health

Surgery backlog could take 84 weeks to clear: study

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 01 Sep, 2020 07:32 PM
  • Surgery backlog could take 84 weeks to clear: study

A new study suggests it could take more than a year and a half to clear the backlog of surgeries in Ontario hospitals caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Modelling research published today in the Canadian Medical Association Journal says the estimated time to clear surgeries postponed due to the pandemic is 84 weeks, with a target of 717 surgeries per week.

The provincial government instructed Ontario hospitals to cancel elective surgeries and other activities deemed not urgent in mid-March to prepare for a possible surge of COVID-19 patients.

That directive was lifted in late May and hospitals gradually resumed performing those surgeries.

The study says that between March 15 and June 13, Ontario hospitals accrued a backlog of 148,364 procedures.

Its authors say the data will play an important role in health planning moving forward, and the modelling framework can be adapted to other jurisdictions.

"The magnitude of the surgical backlog from COVID-19 raises important implications for planning for the recovery phase and for possible second waves of the pandemic in Ontario," study co-author Dr. Jonathan Irish, a surgeon at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, said in a statement.

The researchers say health systems "cannot go back to business as usual" if they want to manage the impact on patients, and must find innovative solutions to prepare for future waves of the novel coronavirus.

MORE Health ARTICLES

Advocates Call For Changes To Canada's HIV/AIDS Disclosure Law, Call It 'Unfair'

Advocates Call For Changes To Canada's HIV/AIDS Disclosure Law, Call It 'Unfair'
TORONTO — The recent arrests of two men accused of failing to disclose their HIV status to their sexual partners have renewed calls for changes to the current legislation that advocates say contributes to the fear and stigma surrounding the disease.

Advocates Call For Changes To Canada's HIV/AIDS Disclosure Law, Call It 'Unfair'

If Overweight, Be Friendly With Thinner People

If Overweight, Be Friendly With Thinner People
  Participants identified the four adults with whom they spent free time most frequently and rated each contact's body mass relative to their own. 

If Overweight, Be Friendly With Thinner People

Florida Zika Cases Rise To 25 As Back-to-school Day Nears

  Florida's Department of Health says active transmission has been only happening in a 1-square-mile area encompassing Miami's Wynwood arts district.

Florida Zika Cases Rise To 25 As Back-to-school Day Nears

P.E.I. Hamlet Puts Faith In Stompin' Tom Centre, Honouring Its Most Famous Son

P.E.I. Hamlet Puts Faith In Stompin' Tom Centre, Honouring Its Most Famous Son
This P.E.I. hamlet has begun work on a gamble: That Canada still loves Stompin' Tom Connors as much as the country-folk legend loved it.

P.E.I. Hamlet Puts Faith In Stompin' Tom Centre, Honouring Its Most Famous Son

Nova Scotia Prison Negligent In Female Prisoners' Deaths, Lawsuits Claim

Nova Scotia Prison Negligent In Female Prisoners' Deaths, Lawsuits Claim
Veronica Park and Camille Strickland-Murphy, both from Newfoundland and Labrador, died months apart in 2015 at the Nova Institution for Women in Truro.

Nova Scotia Prison Negligent In Female Prisoners' Deaths, Lawsuits Claim

How Alcohol And Pot May Influence Your Sexual Behaviour

While both alcohol and marijuana appear to potentially increase risk for unsafe sex, alcohol use may increase the likelihood of having sex with a stranger, leading to less post-sex satisfaction, suggests new research.

How Alcohol And Pot May Influence Your Sexual Behaviour