Surgeries at the Victoria General Hospital are being redirected – after a water pipe burst on July 10.
A valve inside a hand-washing sink broke at 2 am, adjacent to an operating room where the last caesarian section of the night was wrapping up.
The damage closed two pediatric operating rooms, and four labour-and-delivery rooms.
Water also flowed down the vents, closing two adult operating rooms on the floor below.
Mark Blandford, director of hospital’s clinical operations, says general surgeries have been diverted to the Royal Jubilee Hospital, to enable labour and delivery surgeries to continue safely at the VGH.
For now, women needing C-sections are being diverted to other operating rooms at the hospital.
Blandford says managing the risk of infection to moms and their newborns has been one of the biggest considerations during repairs, requiring an infection control team to oversee every step.
“We had to create a negative pressure space in all of the affected areas, because of the fact that we have not just bugs flying around, but also the potential for asbestos to get into the area,” he said.
No surgeries have been cancelled, because hospital staff were able to re-open two operating rooms that had been closed for the summer.
Crews are working around the clock to repair the damage, ahead of schedule, according to Blandford.
Blandford says he expects the affected areas of the maternity ward to re-open by Thursday or Friday. The two adult operating rooms are expected to re-open by the end of August.
He says he blames the leak on old age. “It’s a 35-year-old building, and as one of the plumbers told me… they discover regularly leather valves inside the toilet systems, so it’s an old building with all the problems that go with an old building.”
The cost of the damage has yet to be calculated – but Blandford says the hospital’s insurance policy will cover it.