Three weeks on, total cost of addressing situation rises to $2.7 million
Cancellations continue and the cost of fixing the issue gets higher and higher, some three weeks after Eastern Health postponed 100s of elective surgeries.
Surgeries were put back as sterilization issues were discovered in the middle of February. Teams noticed some stains on kits in their operating rooms, prompting rescheduling and even cancellations. Indeed cancellations have continued as the company struggles to return to “business-as-usual” with some black residue even being found on tools that had already been sent to Toronto for sterilization.
According to Eastern Health CEO David Diamond, expenses associated with repairing and ordering instruments, transportation and overtime payments have driven the overall cost higher and higher – and the total is now estimated at $2.7 million.
It’s not clear how much of this figure will be covered by insurance, but Diamond has stated that $1.3 million had been set aside in contingency funds: and this will be used for part of the costs.
According to Diamond, the bulk of the equipment involved relates to surgeries in the pediatric, orthopedic and gynecological areas.
He insists that everything is being done to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.
Surgeries were put back as sterilization issues were discovered in the middle of February. Teams noticed some stains on kits in their operating rooms, prompting rescheduling and even cancellations. Indeed cancellations have continued as the company struggles to return to “business-as-usual” with some black residue even being found on tools that had already been sent to Toronto for sterilization.
According to Eastern Health CEO David Diamond, expenses associated with repairing and ordering instruments, transportation and overtime payments have driven the overall cost higher and higher – and the total is now estimated at $2.7 million.
It’s not clear how much of this figure will be covered by insurance, but Diamond has stated that $1.3 million had been set aside in contingency funds: and this will be used for part of the costs.
According to Diamond, the bulk of the equipment involved relates to surgeries in the pediatric, orthopedic and gynecological areas.
He insists that everything is being done to resolve the problem as quickly as possible.
