Privately run orthopedic surgery clinic to be built in Saskatoon intended to help clear the province\u0027s surgical backlog.
The province says it will issue a formal request next month for a private company to build a site “focused on increasing operating room and bed capacity for in-patient joint replacements, as well as a variety of day surgery procedures.”
“This option would be offered to patients on a fully voluntary basis, who have waited the longest for their joint replacement procedures while work is ongoing to accelerate expansion plans in public and private facilities,” reads a provincial government release.Article content Saskatchewan began exploring the option of a dedicated, private orthopedic clinic early this year as the government sought to tame a waitlist of more than 35,000 surgical procedures.
A disproportionate number of those surgeries are hip and knee replacements. As of earlier this month, internal Saskatchewan Health Authority documentation shows 4,098 patients had already waited more than 12 months for an orthopedic procedure — more than 45 per cent of the patients who had waited that long.