The Nova Scotia Health Authority says a leak on the third floor of the Victoria General hospital in Halifax has been located and repaired.
The leak caused a “significant” flood at the hospital Monday morning, prompting all surgeries to be postponed.
Officials with the health authority say the water was leaking from the third floor down to the second floor.
The flood affected a sterile supplies room and ophthalmology operating rooms in the 2B area of the hospital. As a result, the health authority says 31 eye surgeries scheduled for Monday have been cancelled.
“The damage was mostly contained in that one room and therefore we moved supplies out. Staff responded extremely quickly,” said Karen Mumford, senior director of the QEII Health Sciences Centre.
The surgeries are expected to begin again Tuesday, as no operating rooms or equipment were damaged. However, the health authority says one of the four ophthalmology ORs will need to be used to hold supplies for surgeries through this week and into next week due to damage in the supply room.
The health authority says the reduction of one eye surgery OR will result in eight to 10 fewer eye surgeries than usual each day until the supply room is dried and repaired, which could take up to two weeks.
In an email to CTV News, Everton McLean says other eye clinic visits and appointments are still taking place.
All other surgeries were postponed Monday morning, but procedures in operating rooms located on floors 10 and 11 of the Centennial building have resumed. The health authority says some surgeries scheduled for Monday afternoon may be postponed due to the late start.
One room on 3B is closed for water system repairs. Four patients have been moved to allow for repairs, but no other patients beds have been affected by the flood.
Water was shut down at the Centennial building Monday morning while crews repaired the leak. The health authority says it has since been restored, but patients and staff are being asked to let the water run for a few minutes before using.
McLean says the leak is significant, but isn’t as bad as a flood that closed down sections of the hospital in September.
That flood forced the relocation of about 50 patients and postponed dozens of surgeries after a pipe burst, leaving the fourth and fifth floors of the hospital submerged.
Nova Scotia Health Minister Leo Glavine has said the century-old hospital needs to be replaced, but it's not known how much that would cost or when it would be done.
He says a plan will be presented to Nova Scotians in January.
“We're putting the Band-Aids on way too frequently,” said Glavine. “(It’s) poorly constructed, and we know that it has to be decommissioned.”
The Victoria General site houses several specialized care centres, including cancer, ophthalmology and transplant units.
Glavine says his department is looking to add capacity at the Dartmouth General Hospital and expand the Halifax Infirmary.
Glavine says it's expected to take two weeks to repair the latest damage.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Sarah Ritchie and The Canadian Press.
