72% of P.E.I. surgeries cancelled due to COVID-19 now completed

P.E.I. surgeons have completed 72 per cent of the surgeries that had to be cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After the pandemic was declared in March, the province's medical staff stopped performing elective surgeries in order to prepare the hospital system for a potential outbreak of COVID-19.

Health Minister James Aylward saidhe's proud of the work being carried out by Island surgeons to catch up after operations and procedures resumed.

"We would probably be a little further ahead of that, but there has been a certain amount of people that have declined a date that was offered to them," Aylward told reporters at the P.E.I. Legislature on Tuesday.

"There is still a little bit, maybe, anxiety going to a hospital for surgery with COVID on their mind."

Aylward said there are other reasons why people are having their surgeries postponed sincenormal operations have resumed.

"They might want to have it during the winter versus during the summer or fall, when they could still be out and active," he said.

According to a list provided back in the spring, the 1,120 procedures postponedduring the 10-week shutdown period consisted of:

• 491eye surgeries.
• 262 orthopedic surgeries.
• 92general surgeries.
• 76ear, nose and throat surgeries.
• 63 obstetrics andgynecologysurgeries.
• 44 urology surgeries.
• 37 plastic surgeries.
• 26 oral/dental surgeries.

Surgeons have completed 881 surgeries at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown since elective surgery was restored.

Another 112 surgeries have been completed at Prince County Hospital in Summerside.

Liberal health critic Robert Henderson pushed the health minister for answers on why these medically necessary surgeries have not all been carried out.

"The people of this province need the confidence of knowing that the system will be there for them;that's the minister's role," said Henderson, the MLA for O'Leary-Inverness.

Aylward saidthe province learned a lot from the first wave of the coronavirus.

"If we do have a second wave, we don't have any idea at this time what that could look like, so all of a sudden if we had community spread and we had a lot of positive cases where people had to be hospitalized, that might take into account whether or not we can perform as many surgeries as we're doing now because obviously a lot of those acute care beds might be occupied by COVID patients," he said.

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