Clearing health care backlog caused by COVID-19 will require $1.3B in additional funding: CMA

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(Brooklyn Neustaeter/ CTVNews) — Clearing the health care backlog of surgeries and scans delayed by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic will require more than a billion dollars in government funding, according to a new study.

The study, commissioned by the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), suggests that at least $1.3 billion in additional funding is needed to return wait times for six procedures to pre-pandemic levels.

The six procedures include coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), cataract surgeries, hip replacements, knee replacements, MRI scans and CT scans.

As hospitals’ resources shifted in March towards preparing for COVID-19, many of these procedures were deemed non-essential and were cancelled to free up hospital capacity.

The report released on Monday quantifies the backlog resulting from the first wave of COVID-19 for these six procedures, which the CMA said together accounts for nearly 80 per cent of the diagnostic and surgical care provided in Canadian hospitals. (…)

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