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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - Stanton Territorial Hospital has cancelled elective surgeries again as problems with its sterilization equipment persist months after the issue was thought to have been solved.

Great Slave MLA Glen Abernethy is frustrated after hearing many patients on the list for elective surgeries have had their appointments cancelled because sterilization machines at the hospital are still not fixed four months parts in the machines were replaced.

"We were under the impression it was good to go and it turns out that it's not, that they're still having some issues with it," said Abernethy, who found out about the problem through a complaint from a constituent who has had an operation cancelled multiple times.

"It's incredibly frustrating because, up until the constituent came to me, we were under the impression, I was under the impression, that it was fixed," he said. "It's been months now and we need to get this fixed so, you know, the doctors can put their patients through and get the elective surgeries these people need and not continue to create a backlog."

Two of the three sterilization machines at Stanton were in need of repairs in January, putting a stop to elective surgeries - for patients who don't require immediate operations - for about a month-and-a-half. The repairs were made at the end of February and elective surgeries were resumed at approximately 60 per cent capacity - meaning that 60 per cent of the scheduled surgeries were completed on a priority basis, according to Robin Greig, director of operations for the hospital.

At the beginning of June, elective surgeries were again put on hold and remain that way, he said. The number of cancellations for June have not yet been compiled, but Greig said between January and April there were 208.

The cancellations are due to intermittent operational problems with the sterilization machines.

"They're still functioning," Greig said, "but we're just not getting consistent results out of them that we feel comfortable to have those instruments used or equipment used on people, on patients."

On Feb. 14, Stanton CEO Kay Lewis told Yellowknifer that two out of three sterilization machines were awaiting repairs. The machines were said to be delivering "wet loads," meaning medical equipment was still wet coming out of the machines. That doesn't mean the equipment was necessarily contaminated, she explained, but it was at risk of picking up germs.

The necessary parts to complete the repairs were said to have arrived about a week later, and at that time Lewis said, "the parts are in and the sterilizers are working."

Greig said the parts did arrive and they made a difference, but they didn't solve all of the problems. So, since the beginning of June, only emergency surgeries have been performed, while elective surgeries have been cancelled and rescheduled.

Greig said the medical equipment being sterilized isn't only used during surgery; it's used throughout the hospital. "So, we have to make sure we can provide that care as well," he said. "One of the things we can control is elective surgeries."

The hospital has had specialists, including senior representatives from the manufacturer of the equipment, in town to look at the sterilization machines. It has also received advice from Alberta Health Services.

Greig said the hope is to have the problem solved "fairly shortly," but that the most important thing is that patients are properly cared for.

"We want to make sure we're providing the most safe patient care we can, so that's why we want things to be consistently running properly before we actually start to open up our elective surgery piece."

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