B.C. baby's cancelled heart surgery comes as respiratory illnesses create long waits at hospitals

A Vancouver Island family whose six-month-old baby had his heart surgery cancelled this month is calling on the province to do a better job of dealing with capacity issues, as the opposition accuses the new premier of neglecting the health-care file.

A Vancouver Island family whose six-month-old baby had his heart surgery cancelled this month is calling on the province to do a better job of dealing with capacity issues, as the opposition accuses the new premier of neglecting the health-care file.

For the first day this week, David Eby didn't hold a news conference nor announce a new program, funding or policy Thursday. This week, he's unveiled new priorities in housing and public safety.

In bringing up health-care woes, BC Liberal MLA Shirley Bond took note of that.

"The premier is out making a blizzard of announcements and pouring money into areas that he's trying to fix after he had those files for more than six years, and at the same time has failed to make a single comment on the state of health care in British Columbia. Meanwhile, the crisis has gotten worse," the MLA for Prince George-Valemount said, leading into her question about a baby who had his heart surgery cancelled.

That baby is Nash Lee. He's six months old, and was born with a hole in his heart. Nash was scheduled for surgery at BC Children’s Hospital on Nov. 16. It was cancelled.

His dad Robbie Veenhof said he and his wife were in Vancouver for the surgery when they heard.

"We were given reasons of, you know, there were physical beds available but no resources, so nurses, staff and other things available to care for the patients in those beds," he explained.