Doctors Manitoba raises the alarm about surgery backlogs as COVID-19 cases rise

The organization that represents doctors in Manitoba is raising the alarm after the province announced it will postpone some surgeries to increase intensive care capacity in the wake of rising COVID-19 numbers.

Over the course of the pandemic, roughly 130,000 surgical and diagnostic procedures have been postponed, said Dr. Kristjan Thompson, the president of Doctors Manitoba and an emergency department physician at St. Boniface Hospitalin Winnipeg.

"That's not just a number. Those are people. Those are Manitobans. Those are people who are waiting in pain, who are suffering, waiting in uncertainty," he said in an interview on Sunday.

"I can't replace their hips or their knees. I can't take their gallbladder out. I can treat their symptoms, their pain, their nausea, but those are just Band-Aid solutions."

Of those 130,000 procedures, 52,000 are surgeries, 41,000 are diagnostic imaging procedures (like MRIs, CAT scans and ultrasounds)and 35,000 are other procedures, like endoscopies, mammogramsand allergy tests, Doctors Manitoba says.

"This is probably an underestimate, to be honest," Thompson said.

Manitoba became the COVID-19 hot spot among Canada's provinces on Friday, when its running seven-day average of new cases per 100,000 peoplerose to 84 a week or 12 cases per 100,000 people a day.

As of Friday, there were 145Manitobans in hospital with COVID-19, including 30 in intensive care.

The plan to cancel surgeries is expected to increase Manitoba's intensive care capacity to 110 from its pre-pandemic baseline capacity of 72.

'All four of them were very sick'

Thompson is seeing the rising COVID-19 related hospitalizationsfirst-hand.

"Last week inone eight-hour shift, I saw four COVID positive patients. All four of them were unvaccinated. All four of them were very sick," he said.

WATCH | Dr. Thompson on working with very ill patients who are unvaccinated:

A day in the St. Boniface Hospital emergency room

3 years ago

Duration 1:42

ER doctor Kristjan Thompson talks about a day where he spoke with an unvaccinated COVID-19 patient.

One man in particular was vocally against the COVID-19 vaccine, Thompson said.

"Hewhotold me, 'I've never been sick. I've never been to the hospital. This is the worst I've ever felt in my entire life,'and he asked me in tears, 'Am I going to die?' And, you know, it was just this devastating, raw human moment, and I did my best to console him," the doctor said.

The man was admitted to intensive care and intubated, the doctor said. He might not have been if he had chosen to be vaccinated, Thompson said.

"We know that the vaccines are safe, they're effective, that they significantly, significantlyreduce the risk of severe illness and certainly death. And so I said, 'I really do feel if you were vaccinated, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation today.'"

'Only going to get worse'

This increase in hospitalizations means that others who don't have COVID-19 aren't able to receive timely care, Thompson said.

One of his patients with appendicitis waited in the ER for a full day.

"No one should have to wait 12 hours in agony for that diagnosis to be made."

Doctors Manitoba is calling on the government to set a date to fix the backlog of surgical and diagnostic procedures, and to create a task force together with front-line health care workers and monthly transparent reporting

"We need all the help we can get. This is a huge problem. It's not going away and it's only getting worse."

Health Minister Audrey Gordon said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday that atask force will be announced soon to address the backlog. She's also put out a request for service providers to help carry out those procedures.

WATCH | Health Minister Audrey Gordon on the latest public health orders:

New COVID-19 restrictions in Manitoba as province hit with highest infection rate in the country

3 years ago

Duration 7:30

Manitoba Health Minister Audrey Gordon joins CBC chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton to talk about the province implementing stronger restrictions to stem rising COVID-19 cases.