Interior Health has reduced two operating rooms at Kelowna General Hospital to compensate for a staffing crunch caused by the province含羞草研究社檚 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.

含羞草研究社淓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,含羞草研究社� 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.

含羞草研究社淎nd then we hope, in two weeks, the situation will improve further,含羞草研究社� he said.

At Kamloops含羞草研究社檚 Royal Inland Hospital, Dix said 含羞草研究社渁 number含羞草研究社� of in-patient have been postponed to support the demand for critical care, 含羞草研究社渨hich as you know in Interior Health is high.含羞草研究社�

As of Oct. 29, the BC Centre for Disease Control含羞草研究社檚 COVID-19 dashboard shows 36 people in intensive care in Interior Health.

A total of 1,018 of the Interior Health region含羞草研究社檚 21,675 health care workers 含羞草研究社� about five per cent 含羞草研究社� 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.

含羞草研究社淚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,含羞草研究社� 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.

含羞草研究社淲e含羞草研究社檙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,含羞草研究社� said Henry.

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

含羞草研究社淪ome people are quite dogmatically against vaccination, which is unfortunate,含羞草研究社� she said.

含羞草研究社淚 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.含羞草研究社�

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
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