The emergency room in Merritt is set to reopen at 8am today, following another overnight closure.

Interior Health shut down the ER at the Nicola Valley Hospital at 10 p.m. Thursday night, July 11, due to a lack of doctors.

Those in need of emergency medical assistance have been advised – as always during a shutdown of this nature – to travel to Kamloops for care.

This is the fifth ER closure in Merritt this year – and second this week following a 48 hour shutdown which ran from Sunday into Tuesday, due to a lack of doctors as well.

At that time, Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz said he intended to revive his continued push with the province for more medical staff for the Nicola Valley Hospital.

“I will be making, probably, a weekly call here in the next little while just to make sure we’re ok, because we’re coming into some long weekend stuff. This is when festivals and everything are happening, and we’ve got to have the hospital open for that,” said Goetz.

The Thursday shutdown of the Nicola Valley Hospital ER comes as Merritt is playing host at the moment to the Bass Coast Music Festival, which as brought in hundreds of young revelers and fans of electronic music.

That festival opened up its doors on Wednesday, with the entertainment portion set to get underway this evening and run through the weekend.