Saskatoon, Regina COVID-19 field hospitals to be decommissioned

Two field hospitals set up in Saskatchewan in the early days of the pandemicmeant to be used in case of overwhelming surges of COVID-19 cases areset to be decommissioned, the Saskatchewan Health Authority says.

Neither the field hospital at the University of Saskatchewan nor at Regina's Evraz Placeended up being used.

According to the health authority, the field hospitals had combined capacity to support300 to 650 patients.

"While we continue to monitor COVID hospitalizations and ensure surge plans are in place, we believe field hospitals no longer need to be part of those plans, and are very pleased that we never had to use them," the health authority's CEO,Scott Livingstone, said in a Friday news release.

Essential medical equipment, such as hospital beds, was purchased for the field hospitals. The items will be distributed in the province where they're most needed, the health authority's news release said.

The decommissioning process in both cities is expected to start at the beginning of August and may take several weeks to complete.