Elective surgeries cancelled at Thompson hospital due to water damage from air conditioners

Elective surgeries and procedures have been cancelled at a hospital in Thompson, Man., afterfaulty air conditioners on the building's roof led to "significant water damage" in three of the hospital's four operating theatres.

The damage was discovered on June 1 at Thompson General Hospital, the Northern Health Region wrote in a news release Tuesday.

Cleanup is already underway at the hospital in the northern Manitoba city of about 13,700 people, roughly 650 kilometres north of Winnipeg.

Reconstruction is expected to take a number of months, the health region said.

Emergency surgeries and emergency caesarean sections will continue to be performed at the hospital, the release says. The authority is working on contingency plans to have scheduled elective surgeries and procedures done at other sites.

Affected patients have been contacted or soon will be contacted, the health authority says.

Authority officials weren't available for an interview Tuesday.