Chemotherapy to resume in N.L. as health-care system grapples with cyberattack

Chemotherapy is set to resume forin Newfoundland and Labrador on Friday after four days of cancelled appointments due to the cyberattackthat has rocked the province's health-care system.

Health Minister John Haggie made the announcement during question period on Thursday.Regional health authorities will begin contacting patients with the most urgent treatment needs, he said, andtreatments will continue through the weekend to help catch up on the backlog of appointments.

Speaking with reporters, Haggie said it might take longer to process patients because systems are not yet fully online.

"The capacity pre-attack and the capacity now may be different," he said.

Central Health initially saidchemotherapy appointments would bepostponed on Friday, but a spokesperson later told CBC Newsthat the appointments will proceed and patients would be contacted.

The cancer-care chemotherapy program is run provincially through Eastern Health.

All non-emergency appointments and procedures in Eastern Health on Thursday were cancelled, and the status of mostappointments on Friday hasn't been confirmed yet.

On Tuesday, Western Health also cancelled chemotherapy appointments scheduled for Friday, and hasn't yet said if they are proceeding.

IT systems coming back slowly

On Thursday morning, Eastern Health and Central Health began bringing the informationsystem used to manage patient health care and finance informationback online.

But the system only has information from before last weekend, and will need to be updated.

Meditech hadbeen down since Saturday, when Newfoundland and Labrador's health-care system was hit by a debilitating cyberattackthat took down much of the IT infrastructure.

Other systems, including several parts of the province's online COVID-19 hub and a system thatprovides access to medical imaging, were also taken offline.

Haggie said Meditech is a suite of software including information databases and core communication tools like email. He said those tools are being slowly tested and brought back online.

"The full functionality of the Meditech suite is not there yet and will take some time yet to get there," Haggie explained.

While not much has changed regarding the status of appointments and procedures, Haggie said Meditech facilitates connectivity that is key to bringing the health-care system back.

Haggie said Eastern Health and Central Health are both in the process of bringing the Meditech system back, while Western Health is in a different situation and will be having planned downtime this weekend in order to do maintenance on its network.

He said some health-care units have gone back to using Meditech, while others are currently using paper records.

Opposition calls for daily updates

During question period, Opposition leader David Brazil criticized Premier Andrew Furey for his absence while the provincial government is responding to the cyberattack.

Furey is in Scotland this week as part of the Canadian delegation to COP26, where he promoted the province's energy sector, including fossil fuels.

On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Office of the Premier said he is on the way back to the province.

He hasn't spoken in any of the media briefings about the cyberattack, although he tweeted about it on Wednesday.

Brazil said Furey was "offering tweets instead of leadership," and called on the government to hold daily updates on the situation. He acknowledged that he's been in conversations with the premier, but said the government needs to do a better job of sharing information with the public.

"He has to show leadership by ensuring that his ministers are doing what needs to be done here and communicating to the people in the province," he said.

On Wednesday, NDPLeader Jim Dinn called on the premier to cut his visit to Scotland short and return to the province to deal with the cyberattack.

Deputy Premier Siobhan Coady argued that the premier has been "heavily engaged" in the government response to the healthcare disruptions.

Speaking with reporters, Haggie said he last spoke to the premier Thursday morning.

"The communication has been frequent and extended," he said.

Central Health staff seepayment delays

According to a statement from the Central Health, payroll for health authority staff have been affectedby the attack, with some staff not being paid on Thursday as usual.

"At this time, staff will receive their base pay only. Any overtime or additional payments will be reconciled later when the system is back online. We understand how challenging this may be for many and apologize for this inconvenience," the statement reads.

Central Health said it's working to make sure all staff receive their pay but payment may be delayed until Friday as it is now a manual process.

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