The three Thompson General Hospital operating rooms that have been unusable for eight-and-a-half months since suffering water damage are set to reopen March 9, the Northern Regional Health Authority (NRHA) says.
NRHA communications co-ordinator Twyla Storey said Feb. 18 that construction will be essentially completed Feb. 24 and that the hospital’s “internal terminal clean” will begin March 2 in preparation for the operating rooms to be in use again the following week.
The NRHA has started the process of booking patients for surgeries in the rooms and will invite selected people, including the media, to view the new operating rooms Feb. 28.
All but one of the hospital's four operating rooms were knocked out of commission last June as a result of water damage from a faulty rooftop air conditioning unit. The only surgeries performed in Thompson since then have been life- and limb-saving surgeries and emergency C-sections.
By mid-July 123 surgeries had been cancelled and 27 others performed at other health care facilities in Manitoba.
While the operating rooms have been unavailable, the hospital has aimed to keep one surgeon and one anesthetist on call at all times, NRHA CEO Helga Bryant told the Thompson Citizen in July, along with one obstetrician and three operating room nurses.
The Thompson General Hospital’s operating room area was originally built in 1957 and renovated to the current layout in 1972.
