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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

No autoclave at hospital leads to 'a gong show'

By: Kevin Rollason

Posted: 08/7/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

AN employee at an Interlake hospital must drive contaminated medical instruments to another medical facility to be sterilized because the hospital's sterilizing machine has been broken for about a year.

The autoclave at the E.M. Crowe Hospital in Eriksdale is so old that it can't be repaired.

Kevin O'Donovan, the Interlake Regional Health Authority spokesman, confirmed that since the machine broke, an employee has been using his own vehicle to drive the dirty instruments to the Arborg and District Health Centre about 65 kilometres away.

"It was determined that the autoclave unit was no longer repairable," O'Donovan said. "At this point, all of the items are going to Arborg. But all of the items are being decontaminated at site and then being transported in secure conditions... in the interim, this is the best and safest way."

O'Donovan said no patients or medical staff at either facility are at risk and infection-control experts oversee every procedure.

But Tory health critic Myrna Driedger disagreed. She said the hospital's lack of an autoclave "is not acceptable... not having an autoclave in place compromises patient care and safety. You're putting patients at risk.

"My first thought is, what a gong show. This is absolutely unacceptable health care from a patient-safety perspective.

"It just shows rural health care is not a priority for this government."

A spokesman for Manitoba Health Minister Theresa Oswald said whenever needed upgrades are brought to the department's attention, the province works with the region to address the issue.

"This government has a strong commitment to rural health care, and the province has made significant investments in equipment and new facilities across rural Manitoba," he said.

The spokesman said just last year, the province invested more than $500,000 to develop a mobile ultrasound program based at the Eriksdale hospital, as well as renovations to the facility. And last month a further $700,000 was invested to provide community cancer services as well as health and wellness programs at a new centre in the town.

Last month, the RM of Eriksdale's council voted to ask the Interlake Regional Health Authority to replace the hospital's autoclave "immediately" because the community takes the loss of the machine so seriously.

RM of Eriksdale Reeve Brian McKinnon could not be reached for comment.

Coun. Merle Day, who moved the council motion, said he didn't want to comment on the matter.

O'Donovan said there's no space for a new, larger autoclave in the Eriksdale hospital.

The $225,000 price tag is substantial, he added.

"We're really looking, based on changes to Canadian standards, at a very substantial capital investment," O'Donovan said.

Health officials are looking at the purchase of a hospital vehicle to continue transporting the medical instruments for sterilization, he said.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 7, 2009 A3

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