Shawville hospital halts surgeries this weekend
Situation 'exceptional' but temporary, with surgeries resuming Monday morning
Surgeries at the hospital in Shawville, Que., are being halted this weekend in what the local health authority is calling an "exceptional" situation.
The Pontiac Hospital will have no surgeon on duty from 8 a.m. Saturday until the same time Monday, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de l'Outaouais (CISSSO) said Friday in a media release.
The 48-hour cessation means trauma patients will be taken instead to the next-closest hospital, while pregnant women requiring emergency caesarian sections will be transferred to the Gatineau Hospital.
"The absence of the surgeon is temporary and considered an exceptional situation," CISSSO said in its French-language statement.
The halting of surgeries comes as the Pontiac Hospital is also facing a summer nursing shortage, with midwives from Gatineau stepping in to help women in the small western Quebec community deliver their babies.
CISSSO said an additional ambulance will be in the region this weekend to transfer any pregnant women requiring emergency procedures.