General surgery closure in Flin Flon leaves residents in precarious situation, surgeon says

A surgeon who used to work at Flin Flon's hospital says residents in the northwestern Manitoba city have been left in a precarious situation after more than five years without general surgery services. 

General surgery services at the Flin Flon General Hospital closed in March 2020, after the hospital's general surgeon left. 

Dr. Gerry Clayden, who served as a general surgeon at the Flin Flon General Hospital from 1988 to 1999, said he was "astonished" that the hospital could go from a 24/7 operating room staffed by four general surgeons during his tenure to nothing at all. 

Clayden and his colleagues regularly performed C-sections, cancer surgeries and a wide range of emergency operations, he said.

"It's quite telling to think that the busy surgical practice that we had in Flin Flon has just disappeared and gone. It's just crazy," said Clayden, who now practises in Carman, Man. 

If local patients need surgery, the Northern Health Region suggests they head to The Pas — about 110 kilometres away — where obstetrics, gynecology, orthopedics and general surgery services are available. 

But it's a "long, long journey in a snowstorm," Clayden said. 

"I think it's precarious for the people who live there, quite frankly. I mean, this is not really 21st-century medical care, is it?" he said, adding that there's a "clear and present danger that people will die for lack of services" if patients can't be medically evacuated elsewhere. 

A spokesperson for Shared Health, the provincial health agency, said air ambulance pilots can't take off, land or continue flying if weather conditions exceed Transport Canada-mandated weather thresholds for visibility and cloud clearance.

That means medical evacuation responses could be delayed, diverted or even cancelled if weather conditions fall below the threshold, the spokesperson said. 

The Northern Health Region said it's monitoring patient volumes and needs in the Flin Flon area to ensure access to "safe, appropriate care."

However, it said patient demand for obstetric and surgical services currently "remains low," and it is "not actively recruiting for a general surgeon position at the Flin Flon General Hospital at this time."

But Health Minister Uzoma Asagwara said in a statement to CBC that recruitment for a general surgeon in Flin Flon is "active and ongoing."

No one should have to leave their community to access medical care "that should be available closer to home," their statement said.