The Interior Health Authority says it is in the process of hiring to be at full capacity by mid-June for performing elective surgeries.

Chief Executive Officer Susan Brown says more surgeries means more staff is needed in operating rooms, sterilization rooms, and other areas.

“It’s quite a complex plan that we need to put together. We’re well on our way to doing that,” she says.

“We will be ramping up as much as we can safely, so that may include the expansion of hours at some sites where we know we need to recruit staff. I don’t have the exact numbers.”

Brown says IH will be looking to maximize day-surgery capacity and surgeries that can be done outside of operating rooms themselves.

There were about 3,000 surgeries postponed between March 16 and May 10 across the Interior Health region which would’ve been performed in normal times, but were shelved because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The breakdown by hospital on those postponed surgeries has not been provided.