B.C. hospitals, health services affected by global IT outage

British Columbia's health-care system faced disruptions Friday as a global technology outage affected multiple industries and government agencies around the world.

The widespread disruption was attributed to a faulty software update issued by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike that was affecting computers running Microsoft Windows.

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said the outage affected approximately 50,000 electronic devices across the health ministry, including 30,000 on the B.C. mainland and another 20,000 on Vancouver Island.

The province's five regional health authorities in issued statements saying the outage was "impacting our networks and computers across all systems."

The health authorities said contingency plans were in place to ensure hospitals and other health-care services remain open and "that patient care is not disrupted to the best of our ability."

The statements urged patients not to call hospital switchboards until the problem was resolved.

Sources tell CTV News the issue started late Thursday night, and affected the ability of some health-care providers to treat patients.

"If you have any questions on a health-care appointment today, please call your health-care providers," the statement from the health authorities says. "Our primary concern is the continuity and quality of patient care."

First responders, wildfire service unaffected

B.C. Premier David Eby said the outage was not affecting ambulance services or the province's wildfire management office, "which is very positive news given the challenging wildfire situation we're in currently."

"I suspect there are some people here who had an extraordinarily long night," Eby said, addressing staff during an unrelated news conference at Vancouver General Hospital.

"I wanted to thank all the staff who are here who faced the brunt of a computer outage that has struck internationally, and who spent extra time supporting patients and minimizing disruption here at VGH and across the health-care system."

Eby said the province's police forces, including the RCMP, have reported no issues related to the outage, and 911 service in B.C. remained operational throughout the night.

The B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development's central call centre is reporting delays due to the outage, however the service is still operating, the premier said. 

In a statement, the City of Vancouver said its systems had only been "minimally affected" by the disruption.

The massive outage also affected major banks and airlines, causing flight disruptions around the world, including at the Vancouver International Airport, where officials say the problem has primarily affected U.S.-based carriers.

CrowdStrike CEO George Kurtz said in a statement posted to X that the outage was not related to a cyberattack or security incident, and that customer data remains protected.

"We understand the gravity of the situation and are deeply sorry for the inconvenience and disruption," the statement said. "We are working with all impacted customers to ensure that systems are back up and they can deliver the services their customers are counting on."