Manitoba has seen a large reduction in surgeries over last few years: report

Nearly 50,000 fewer surgeries were performed in Manitoba since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new report.

On Thursday, the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) released new data on the impact of the pandemic on surgeries in Canada, using 2019 surgery numbers for comparison. It found that 48,000 fewer surgeries were performed in Manitoba since March 2020, compared to before the pandemic.

According to CIHI, joint replacements and cataract surgeries accounted for a significant portion of the reduction in surgeries.

The numbers show that only 26 per cent of knee replacements patients had surgery within the recommended time frame of 182 days in 2022. This is down 20 per cent from 2019, when 46 per cent of Manitoba patients had the surgery within the suggested time frame.

The CIHI report also found that Manitoba saw large surgery decreases during the Delta and Omicron waves, with a reduction between 18 per cent and 21 per cent compared to pre-pandemic numbers.

Across Canada, 937,000 fewer surgeries were performed since March 2020, with joint replacement and cataract surgeries accounting for about 24 per cent of these reductions.

CIHI noted that the largest decrease in surgeries took place during the first four months of the pandemic when scheduled and non-urgent surgeries were cancelled or postponed. The not-for-profit organization said that provinces and territories will need to exceed pre-pandemic number in order to reduce surgical backlogs.