Merritt, B.C., emergency room closing for 25 hours this weekend

The emergency department at Nicola Valley Hospital and Health Centre in Merritt is once again closed due to limited physician availability.

Interior Health shared news of the closure on Friday, saying in a statement that the facility would be closed for 25 hours, beginning at 7 a.m. on Saturday and continuing until 8 a.m. on Sunday.

During the closure, patients needing emergency care will be directed to Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, more than 80 kilometres away.

Saturday's closure is the latest in a long and frustrating line of such incidents for Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz, who sent an invoice to the province earlier this year seeking compensation for the closures.

“I would like a response back now. It's been over 30 days. Don’t make me send it to collections, because that's exactly what I’ll do,” the mayor told CTV News on Thursday.

Across the Interior Health region, according to Goetz's calculations, there were ER closures on 29 of 31 days in July. He said August is not looking any better.

Health Minister Adrian Dix has repeatedly insisted that the province has a plan to recruit and retain doctors and nurses to meet demand, while downplaying staffing as being “a challenge every summer,” but British Columbia never saw patients diverted from emergency departments in pre-pandemic times.

And, while Dix has been keen to recite net gains in recruitment of physicians and nurses, those gains have not kept up with the demand for care.

The ministry has pointed out that twice as many health-care workers are calling sick now compared to 2019, and there’s a worldwide shortage of health-care workers as many walk away from the profession due to burnout.

“These are challenges that are not unique to B.C.,” said Dr. Kathleen Ross, president of the Canadian Medical Association and a family physician in Coquitlam, earlier this week.

Her organization continues to advocate for more training positions, team-based care, and public pressure on policymakers, because “we're in a crisis, no one jurisdiction has this right and we should be looking at national solutions,” she said.

With files from CTV News Vancouver's Robert Buffam and Penny Daflos