A critical shortage of anesthesiologists in B.C. is causing patients to be diverted to other hospitals, according to concerned doctors.
At Peace Arch Hospital in White Rock women in labour and patients needing emergency surgeries have been sent to Surrey Memorial Hospital for four nights in the last month.
“We've had a real crisis at Peace Arch Hospital,” said Dr. Peter Skepasts, head of surgery.
From 6 p.m. Friday to 6:30 a.m. Saturday the hospital will be turning away certain patients because of the shortage.
“It’s not easy, we've had a lot of help from Fraser Health trying to find anesthesiologists but they just don’t seem to be available,” Skepasts said, adding that they’ve been trying to recruit the specialists for two years.
David Portesi from the Fraser Health Authority said the gap at Peace Arch Hospital came unexpectedly. So far six maternity cases had to be diverted as a precaution, and Portesi said they don’t anticipate the shortage to continue.
“It’s not always possible to tell when they do need surgery so we wanted to take that extra step,” he said.
However the B.C. Anesthesiologists Society said the situation at Peach Arch Hospital is just the tip of the iceberg.
“There's a critical shortage of anesthesiologists across British Columbia,” Dr. Roland Orfaly said. “What this comes down to is a gross mismanagement of the resources that are already committed to the health care system. There's enough money in the system and enough resources, they're just not being put where they need to be.”
B.C.’s Ministry of Health denied the shortage in an emailed statement to CTV News.
“B.C. has one of the better supplies of anesthesiologists in the country and compensates anesthesiologists fairly for their work,” the statement said, adding that over the past 12 years there has been a 31 per cent increase in the number of fee-for-service anesthesiologists in B.C.
While the Fraser Health Authority claims they’ve fixed the problem for now, doctors are calling for a provincial solution to what they feel is a larger issue.
