About half of B.C.'s anesthesiologists are planning to withdraw their services from elective surgeries next week as an ongoing contract dispute with the province heats up.

Dr. Jeff Rains of the BC Anesthesiologists' Society told CTV News that the service reductions are similar to what would be seen during spring break or over Christmas and summer vacations. He said the province has known about the job action for more than three months, but surgeries are still being booked at normal levels.

"I believe that they're trying to put patients in the middle of this dispute in order to inflame the situation and get patients angry with us, and I think that is absolutely the wrong thing to do," Rains said.

He added that anesthesiologists will be staying late at work next week to make sure elective surgery patients are cared for.

"It may not be at the time that they were originally scheduled. It could be at eight o' clock at night as opposed to 10 o'clock in the morning," he said. That practice will be ended after next week.

According to the Health Ministry, 3,200 patients awaiting surgery in the next few weeks have been contacted and warned.

"It's not logical, satisfactory, professional or in my view ethical to be saying to patients, ‘Well, come to the hospital but we may or may not, on our schedule ... decide when to do surgery,'" Health Minister Mike de Jong said.

De Jong added that moving patients to other hospitals or even out of province is a possibility, as is training nurse practitioners to act as anesthesiologists.

"Yes, it requires legislative change and yes, we are prepared ... to make those legislative changes," he said.

B.C.'s health authorities have retained legal counsel and sent a letter to anesthesiologists earlier this week, warning that they could lose their hospital privileges or face legal action.

The letter went on to say that the authorities, "may seek injunctive relief as well as damages against you personally for any costs and expenses."

No end date has been set for the service withdrawal.

Vancouver Coastal Health said that it's expecting only a minimal impact on patients. Some hospitals in the region employ general anesthesiologists who are not part of the protesting group, and others have anesthesiologists working under a service contract. Lions Gate and Richmond hospitals could be affected, however.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Maria Weisgarber