Windsor Regional Hospital is dealing with a $5-million operation deficit.
CEO David Musyj says a sterilization issue put the 2016 budget in the red.
Musyj says old steam pipes at the Ouellette Campus that sterilize equipment weren't working properly, and added about $2-million to the deficit.
"The steam pipes were too old and not functional. So, what we had to do is shut down sterilization of surgical instruments at our Ouellette Campus," says Musyj. "We ran all sterilization for a period of six months at our Met Campus."
Musyj says the sterilization issue has been resolved, and the Ouellette Campus is back to normal, but he says the sterilization costs really hit the budget hard.
"The cost of having to sterilize the equipment at the Met Campus and transporting it back and forth between Met and Ouellette as well as, in the very short term, using a service out of Toronto to sterilize equipment at quite an expense," he says.
In addition, 2016 salaries are over-budget because of the overtime spent dealing with flu outbreaks, but they're lower than the previous year.
Musyj says it's not where the hospital wants to be, but the deficit is going in the right direction.
"You know in a half billion dollar budget we've made substantial progress. Last year at this time we were north of a $20-million deficit and without the sterilization issue we would be very close to a balanced budget," Musyj says.