Halifax hospitals get new sterilization equipment after malfunctions

Three new sterilization machines being installed this week at the Halifax Infirmary are expected to be in service by early August, part of a $2-million project to solve instrument contamination problems that disrupted surgeries for 563 patients earlier this year.

"It was a huge challenge," says Joanne Dunnington, director of perioperative services in Nova Scotia's central health zone.

The expected cost of replacing aging sterilizers at the Halifax Infirmary and nearby Victoria General Hospital site has more than tripled since late April, when Nova Scotia's Minister of Health said the department would put $500,000 into the project.

This week, the Nova Scotia Health Authority said the Department of Health has spent $1.5 million and the QEII Health Sciences Centre Foundation has contributed another $450,000 for the machines.

"When the ask for new sterilizers went in, it went in for five sterilizers," said Dunnington.

"But when we look at the impact this had across the province for our patient population, for the community that we serve, we do have seven sterilizers and the decision was made that all seven should be replaced at this point in time."

Right now, the Victoria General Hospital is processing medical instruments for that hospital and the Halifax Infirmary. Both are also dependant on instruments sterilized at other facilities, primarily Dartmouth General and the Colchester Regional Hospital in Truro.

That situation is expected to continue into the fall, as the Victoria General Hospital switches over to newer sterilizers.

"Part of the idea of the staggered installation is we want to get these in the Halifax Infirmary site, get them up and running before we start removing and replacing the ones at the VG," says Dunnington.

She says "almost all" of the 563 surgeries cancelled in April and May have now been rebooked and rescheduled.