Sask. to fund private surgeries in attempt to slash massive backlog

Saskatchewan will attempt to reduce its backlog of about 35,000 surgeries by privatizing certain procedures and paying for them with public funds. It's not known which surgeries will be privatized.

According to Saskatchewan Health Minister Paul Merriman, emphasis will first be put on surgeries with the highest number of patients waiting for them.  

"We are going to build on existing contracts with private surgical providers to increase the number and types of surgeries they can perform. This will give additional capacity to the SHA to perform more complex procedures," he said Thursday. 

Existing operating rooms will be optimized and overall ICU capacity will be increased in the province as well, Merriman said.

Staffing shortages are a problem in Saskatchewan, something unions said started long before the pandemic.

Merriman said the province is recruiting additional staff for these changes. One way they're doing that is by increasing specialized critical care training seats at Saskatchewan Polytechnic to 144.

"Permanent ICU beds will be expanded from 79 to 90 by June of 2022, as the first step to achieving 110 beds in our province," Merriman said. 

Surgery target numbers

There were no details given on the cost of this plan. Merriman said it's in the "budget process" right now. 

The government announced targets based on the public system capacity as well: 

• 7,000 additional surgeries in 2022-23
• 6,000 in 2023-24
• 5,000 in  2024-25 

Merriman said he hoped that by getting through those three tranches, the province could get down to a three-month surgical wait list time.