Alberta Health Services is rescheduling 57 surgeries and medical procedures at Chinook Regional Hospital in Lethbridge following the discovery of a fine, dark residue on a number of surgical instruments.
“The chemical and biological markers for the level of cleaning and sterility for our instruments continues to meet Canadian standards,” said Dr. Karin Goodison, Medical Officer of Health for AHS South Zone. “We took the proactive approach of postponing scheduled surgeries because patient safety is a top priority and we take this situation very seriously.”
The 57 procedures had been scheduled for Wednesday, November 19 and Thursday, November and consisted of primarily elective surgeries. Emergency surgeries will continue to be conducted at the hospital using surgical equipment transported from other AHS sites.
According to AHS, the residue appeared following the cleaning and sterilization of surgical equipment in operating rooms. AHS officials have not disclosed if the residue has been identified but they have determined the residue presents a low risk to patient safety following consultations with infection prevention and control specialists.
AHS is attempting to contact patients to reschedule the postponed surgeries.
Chinook Regional Hospital will continue to send its surgical equipment to offsite AHS facilities for sterilization and cleaning until the situation is resolved.
