Amid hospital strain, Kamloops leadership calling on province to review health authority system
KAMLOOPS — With ongoing staffing issues, postponed non-urgent surgeries and an influx of COVID-related ICU patients at Royal Inland Hospital, civic leaders in Kamloops are calling on the province to step-in.
“I’m not the least bit satisfied,” says Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian. “I’m really quite disappointed and I have called the Minister of Health on ten consecutive days, and he has refused to return my phone call.”
The frustrated mayor admits Interior Health has been put under incredible pressure from the wildfire season, the COVID-19 pandemic and the opioid crisis. But he feels some of the problems with staffing and operations are systemic.