Cancelled surgeries at Eastern Health 'the right thing to do', says John Haggie

Newfoundland and Labrador's Health Minister says Eastern Health made the right decision to postpone surgeries at St. John's hospitals after finding stains on towels used in operating rooms.

"From a patient's point of view, it's very frustrating, and quite agitating," John Haggie said Monday.

"From the point of view of the decision to do it, I think it's entirely the right decision. It was an example of the quality control procedures at Eastern Health actually working."

250 surgeries delayed over sterilization issues at Eastern Health

Eastern Heath says it has determined that stains found on towels in surgical kits were mineral stains, and says it canceled 250 elective surgeries to put patient safety first.

"I think the problem is very complicated, because once you've identified the problem, you have to remedy it," said Haggie, noting that a towel stained for any reason would be rejected. 

The health authority told the St. John's Morning Show Monday that over the past few weeks it has found faint stains on towels in surgical equipment sets.

David Diamond, Eastern Health's CEO and president, said there is no evidence that any patients have been adversely affected but the health authority decided Friday to cancel all elective surgeries in it's region on Feb. 15 and Feb. 16 to be safe.

"It's purely precautionary. We have no indication that anyone has been harmed," said Diamond.

"We've confirmed [over the weekend] through a number of tests that the stains are actually mineral stains and it's nothing actually to be concerned about from an infection perspective so this is purely precautionary. We didn't know that on Friday."

Diamond said the health authority has seen the stain in about 30 surgical kits recently, but decided to take action on Feb 12.

Pre-cautionary action

"I'd much rather be talking about canceling surgery as a precaution than having a conversation about folks that we've infected and so, that's not the case here, he said.

"We took the precautionary action to make sure we didn't harm anybody."

When asked by Morning Show host Anthony Germain why Eastern Health is taking those measures if there is no danger, Diamond said there will be follow up Monday.

"That was on Friday and we didn't have the results of all of the testing. So again, being overly cautious to make sure there was no harm," he said.

Need to find a remedy

Haggie, himself a surgeon, said it's his understanding that occasional stains had been spotted since Feb. 4 in two locations.

"That happens from time to time for all sorts of random reasons.I think the real trigger was actually the cluster of cases they had on Friday," he said. 

"It's upsetting all around. There's nothing more frustrating than having a patient ready for surgery and then not having the tools to do the job, but at the end of the day this has to be about safety," said Haggie.

The health authority is going ahead with urgent and emergency surgeries.

Officials said there is a possibility that elective surgeries, such as tonsillectomies or some plastic surgeries, may be postponed beyond Feb. 16 as Eastern Health deals with the staining concerns at the Janeway children's hospital, St. Clare's and the Health Sciences Centre in St. John's

Diamond said the health authority will update patients "as soon as possible."