About 300 elective surgeries at Royal Inland Hospital in Kamloops, B.C., were cancelled this week because of concerns about the cleaning and sterilization of surgical equipment, health officials announced Tuesday.
"We are taking this extraordinary step to ensure patient safety," said Jon Slater, an Interior Health medical director, in a statement.
"Our system has numerous checks and balances in place to avoid situations like this but it's not always perfect. We will be conducting our own review and have also arranged for an external review."
Slater told The Canadian Press that contaminated surgical instruments were detected on three occasions in the past 11 days.
One of those was considered a critical incident in which a patient was exposed to potentially infectious equipment.
In other instances, old glue was found on a surgical pan and bone fragments were found on a drill.
Darshan Lindsay, an Interior Health spokeswoman, told ctvbc.ca that an external auditor arrived at the hospital Tuesday afternoon.
The cancelled surgeries have not yet been rescheduled, she said.
There is no indication that any patients suffered ill-effects as a result of exposure to contaminated instruments.
Emergency surgeries will continue at the hospital under enhanced cleaning procedures, officials said.
