Elective surgeries cancelled until at least March as Covid crisis deepens

Queenslanders will be waiting for non-urgent elective surgeries for months as escalating hospitalisation figures and increasing staff shortages caused by Covid-19 isolation hit the state’s health system hard.

Non-urgent elective surgeries will be halted across Queensland until at least March with the state recording 11,174 new cases of Covid-19 while adding two more deaths to the pandemic’s tally.

Queensland’s Covid-19 death toll to date now stands at 10.

On Saturday there were 17 people being treated in intensive care for Covid-19, with three people on a ventilator.

Nearly 350 people were being cared for in hospitals across the state due to Covid-19.

Chief health officer Dr John Gerrard confirmed two men in their 30s, one of whom died in Brisbane on January 5 and the other on the Gold Coast earlier this week, had died of “rare complications” tied to Covid-19.

The man from Brisbane was unvaccinated while the man on the Gold Coast had both his jabs.

Chief Health Officer Dr Kohn Gerrard. Picture: Annette Dew

Dr Gerrard emphasised that deaths in young people were “rare and particularly unexpected”.

He said both men likely died from myocarditis — inflammation of the heart muscle caused by viral infection of which symptoms include chest pain, an abnormal heartbeat, and shortness of breath.

The escalating hospitalisation figures and increasing staff shortages caused by Covid-19 isolation has prompted health authorities to suspend non-urgent elective surgery across the state’s public health system.

All category three procedures, which include hysterectomies and hip and knee replacements, and some category two procedures, will be suspended until at least March 1.

“This will allow us to redirect our staff to where we need to deal with emergencies and Covid-19 patients,” Health Minister Yvette D’Ath said.

Outpatients could also have their non-urgent appointments postponed or delivered via telehealth.

Ms D’Ath said the government would also be activating arrangements to secure staffed beds from private hospitals to boost capacity, with the numbers to ramp up over time.

This will allow Queensland Health to move public patients into the private hospital system to free up capacity so it can deal with more Covid-19 patients.

The maximum number of beds Queensland Health could commandeer through the arrangement would be between 5000 and 6000 spread across 47 private hospitals Ms D’Ath said.

An online system to log positive rapid antigen test (RAT) results was launched on the Queensland Health website on Saturday, with the data to be released as part of Queensland’s daily Covid-19 report.

Logging a positive RAT result will give Queensland Health insight into who is recovering from Covid-19 at home and provide medical care if required.

The federal government announced it would now accept proof of positive RAT result registration when people forced to isolate due to Covid-19 apply for pandemic leave disaster payments worth up to $750 a week.

Originally published as Elective surgeries cancelled until at least March as Covid crisis deepens