Chatham-Kent Health Alliance (CKHA) has cancelled elective surgical procedures scheduled for Monday due to a possible risk of contamination.
CKHA says the hospital conducted necessary repairs on a back-up generator, which caused the main chillers to be shut down for 15 minutes on Sunday. Due to the extremely hot weather, this caused the humidity levels to rise within the Operating Room and Medical Device Reprocessing Department where equipment sterilization occurs.
CKHA says there is a concern that the high levels of humidity may have contaminated the surgical equipment.
Nine elective surgeries have been cancelled for Monday and will be rescheduled. All patients affected have been contacted.
Hospital staff began "reprocessing" all equipment once the affected areas returned to normal humidity levels.
