Windsor Regional Hospital to resume non-urgent surgeries, with thousands awaiting dates

Windsor's largest hospital is making plans to "gradually ramp-up" non-urgent surgeries, that were once again paused due to the emerging Omicron variant. 

Windsor Regional Hospital says they are working on a plan to slowly resume the procedures. 

Non-urgent surgeries were put on hold in early January by the province to preserve hospital capacity, as the highly-contagious variant took over hospitals across the province. 

The Ontario government allowed non-urgent surgeries to return Jan. 31, when some restrictions were lifted.  

At the time, Windsor Regional Hospital CEO David Musyj said Ontario's plan to return non-urgent surgeries was "premature."

Before the procedures were put on hold, 3,452 people were awaiting a surgical date. Now, the hospital estimates 4,194 people locally are awaiting a surgical date. 

The acting medical officer of health for Windsor-Essex said that's about one in four people in this health district. 

"There are people who are waiting that have clinical symptoms awaiting an investigation … so it's not just people waiting surgeries it's people waiting for tests to be done," Dr. Shanker Nesathurai said Thursday. 

"I think it's a really significant issue, we have people waiting for care."

The hospital said patients will be contacted by their doctor or surgeon for newly scheduled dates.