Windsor Regional Hospital to resume non-urgent surgeries, with thousands awaiting dates

Windsor's largest hospital is making plans to "gradually ramp-up" non-urgent surgeries, that were once again paused due to the emerging Omicron variant.

Windsor Regional Hospital says they are working on a plan to slowly resume the procedures.

Non-urgent surgeries were put on hold in early January by the provinceto preserve hospital capacity, as the highly-contagious variant took over hospitals across the province.

The Ontario government allowed non-urgent surgeries to return Jan. 31, when some restrictions were lifted.

At the time, Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj said Ontario's plan to return non-urgent surgeries was "premature."

Before the procedures were put on hold,3,452 people were awaiting a surgical date.Now, the hospital estimates4,194 people locally are awaiting a surgical date.

The acting medical officer of health for Windsor-Essex said that's about one in four people in this health district.

"There are people who are waiting that have clinical symptoms awaiting an investigation so it's not just people waiting surgeries it's people waiting for tests to be done," Dr. Shanker Nesathurai said Thursday.

"I think it's a really significant issue, we have people waiting for care."

The hospital said patients will be contacted by their doctor or surgeon for newly scheduled dates.

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