At least 80 non-urgent surgeries have been postponed at the Halifax Infirmary after black debris was found on sterile equipment last weekend.
A spokesperson for the Nova Scotia Health Authority spokesperson said the debris was discovered in multiple surgical kits on April 10.
“We’ve reached out to some of our partners across the new health authority to help us do sterilization,” said Karen Mumford, director of perioperative services at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.
On Sunday, the decision was made to postpone all elective and non-urgent surgeries for Monday.
“So we’re assessing it on a day-by-day basis and we will be doing it again (Monday) to determine what capacity we have to be able to provide service for Tuesday,” Mumford said.
It’s not yet known what caused the issue, but Mumford said it is believed to be an issue with sterilization equipment at the facility. None of the affected equipment was used in surgery.
