More than 100 surgeries postponed at Montreal-area hospital due to equipment failure

An equipment failure at Pierre-Boucher Hospital in Longueuil has forced more than 100 surgeries to be postponed.

More than 100 non-urgent surgeries at the Pierre-Boucher Hospital on Montreal’s South Shore have been postponed due equipment failure, according to the regional health board.

Sterilizers for medical instruments used in surgeries “did not pass visual inspection” at the medical device reprocessing unit in the Longueuil hospital, the Centre intégré de santé et de services sociaux de la Montérégie-Est confirmed in an email to CTV News on Wednesday.

“We would like to reassure our customers that no patients were put at risk and our contingency plan was quickly implemented,” the email stated.

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The 111 non-urgent surgeries scheduled between Feb. 20 and 27, representing approximately 15 per cent of the hospital’s planned surgeries, have been postponed. Meanwhile, all urgent surgeries will go ahead as planned.

“We understand the impact this has on the patients concerned and are doing everything we can to return to normal as quickly as possible,” the regional health board said.

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No cancellations are planned for next week, and the hospital expects things to return to normal on March 9.

With files from CTV News’ Kelly Greig