Confusion reigns over Saskatchewan's plans to move ICU patients out of province
CBC
Saskatchewan's plans to alleviate pressure on its battered ICUs descended into confusion Wednesday.
The province has already moved six ICU patients to Ontario since Monday and Ontario Health said it was prepared to take at least six more as of Wednesday morning.
But a technical briefing on Wednesday afternoon threw all of that into uncertainty.
Marlo Pritchard, president of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency and head of Saskatchewan's Emergency Operations Centre, would not confirm whether more patients would be transferred out of the province or when.
"I don't know where that number came from," he said.
It came as a surprise to doctors in Saskatchewan hoping to send their patients to get treatment as well as the doctors in Ontario preparing to receive them.
Health-care workers from both provinces took to social media decrying what they say is a purposeful decision to pull back on patient transfers.
Dr. Jeremy Katulka, an intensive care doctor in Saskatoon, tweeted that the decision-making process has left many health-care workers in the dark on what is going on —even if they're the ones dealing with COVID-19 patients in the ICU.
Dr. Michael Warner, medical director of critical care at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto, said the hospital was anticipating a Saskatchewan patient on Thursday.
That's no longer happening and it's not clear why.
"As the #COVID19SK ICU situation has not improved, this decision is confusing. We remain willing and able to assist," Warner wrote in a tweet.
Warner has previously told CBC that Ontario has a capacity to assist Saskatchewan.
"Within Ontario, we have 2,300 ICU beds and about 1,700 are occupied today, we have tremendous capacity to help without endangering the health of Ontarians" he said.
No one from the Saskatchewan government has clarified what is going on or the direction the province is taking in shifting patients out of Saskatchewan.
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