Sask. to increase surgical and medical imaging capacity next week

Saskatchewan will expandhow much surgical and medical imaging is done in the province starting on June 16 as part of the reopening of health care services, the government announced Wednesday.

The government had scaled back many health procedures and tests due to COVID-19, but started reversing those changes when it launched its reopening plan on May 19.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority said Wednesday that since May 19, Regina and Saskatoon have been performing at 45 to 50 per cent of their pre-COVID-19 surgical capacity.

The next phase of health-care reopeningwill begin on June 16 and include:

• Surgical capacity to increase over the next few weeks to 65 to 70 per cent provincially, with the inclusion of urgent, emergent and also some elective procedures.
• Medical imaging capacity targeting 90 per cent of pre-COVID-19 volumes across all services, including MRI and CT scans.

Later this month the SHA will resume:

• Sleep disorder testing.
• Cardiac stress testing.
• Eye centre testing and operations.
• Cast clinics.

Availability for surgeries, scans and testing clinics will vary by area.

"As we safely increase service levels, we are learning to do business in different ways that promote access to services for Saskatchewan residents while still ensuring safety and proper precautions against the spread of COVID-19," SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said.

The SHA said that since March there have been 122,000 virtual care appointments.

"As we increase the amount of people in our facilities, we need to be extra vigilant and monitor the impact on our health system," Livingstone said. "In order to resume services while also continuing to support COVID-19 testing, contact tracing and other strategies to combat the virus, we need to move slowly and cautiously through this process."