A report from the province says Five Hills Health Region is close to reaching its target for reducing wait times for necessary surgeries.
According to the provincial health ministry, 98 per cent of all required surgeries in the region are performed within six months, based on records taken between Feb. 1 and July 31 of this year.
Further details, provided online by the Saskatchewan Surgical Initiative, showed that only 14 patients in the region waited longer than six months for surgery.
Kyle Matthies, director of communications for the health region, said that delays for surgery were limited to two areas, adding that the region was devoting specific resources towards addressing the situation.
“Patients are waiting longer than six months for ophthalmology and orthopedic surgeries,” he stated. “More (operating room) space has been dedicated to these specialties to reduce this wait.”
In a statement issued this week, provincial health minister Dustin Duncan lauded the initiative and credited “thousands of health care providers” with helping Saskatchewan move closer to its goal.
“We owe it to patients to work hard over the last half of the fiscal year and meet our surgical wait-time goals,” he stated.
For more information, see Friday's edition of the Times-Herald.
