Interior Health has reduced two operating rooms at Kelowna General Hospital to compensate for a staffing crunch caused by the provincesa国际传媒檚 vaccine mandate for health-care workers.

Due to challenges, including the loss of several unvaccinated staff who have been placed on unpaid leave, health authorities across the province have been forced to shift resources to the area of greatest need, critical care.

sa国际传媒淓very patient whose surgery is postponed will get another call, one that tells them their surgery is being rescheduled, and they will get the surgery they need,sa国际传媒� said Health Minister Adrian Dix during a Nov. 1 press conference.

Kelowna General Hospital has also postponed non-urgent eye-care procedures. Dix said he anticipates things to improve in short order, with one of the operating rooms reopening next week.

sa国际传媒淎nd then we hope, in two weeks, the situation will improve further,sa国际传媒� he said.

At Kamloopssa国际传媒檚 Royal Inland Hospital, Dix said sa国际传媒渁 numbersa国际传媒� of in-patient have been postponed to support the demand for critical care, sa国际传媒渨hich as you know in Interior Health is high.sa国际传媒�

As of Oct. 29, the BC Centre for Disease Controlsa国际传媒檚 COVID-19 dashboard shows 36 people in intensive care in Interior Health.

A total of 1,018 of the Interior Health regionsa国际传媒檚 21,675 health care workers sa国际传媒� about five per cent sa国际传媒� are unvaccinated, the highest number in the province. They, along with more than 3,000 unvaccinated health-care workers provincewide, have been placed on unpaid leave.

sa国际传媒淚f after a two-week period, these individuals have still refused to be vaccinated, employers will move forward with termination in accordance with their collective agreements,sa国际传媒� Ministry of Health public affairs officer Marielle Tounsi told Black Press Media on Oct. 26, the deadline for health-care workers to be vaccinated.

Asked on Monday why the numbers of unvaccinated health-care workers in the Interior are disproportionately high, provincial health officer Dr. Bonnie Henry said it reflects the communities in which they work.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檙e doing a lot of work, reaching out one-on-one to each individual health-care worker to try and answer their question, understand what is the issue for different health-care workers, and it varies,sa国际传媒� said Henry.

Ultimately, Henry said most health-care workers have supported the mandate, though some will be harder to convince.

sa国际传媒淪ome people are quite dogmatically against vaccination, which is unfortunate,sa国际传媒� she said.

sa国际传媒淚 hear, overwhelmingly, from my colleagues that they are supportive of this, how important it is for us as health-care workers [to get vaccinated] so that we can show up. Even if it only causes a mild illness, it can have a tremendous impact if a health-care worker gets sick.sa国际传媒�

READ MORE: Unvaccinated B.C. public service staff to be placed on unpaid leave as of Nov. 22

READ MORE: 3,300 unvaccinated B.C. health-care workers placed on unpaid leave following mandate

michael.rodriguez@kelownacapnews.com
Like us on , follow us on and subscribe to our daily newsletter.