Manitoba to send 5 patients to Fargo for spinal surgery in coming weeks

Roughly five patients from Manitoba will soon travel south of the border for spinal surgery in Fargo, N.D., as part of a deal announced in January to tackle the province's backlog of surgical and diagnostic procedures, a Sanford Health spokesperson says.

That's just a fraction of the 150 to 300 patients expected to ultimately be sent to Fargo as part of a deal with the non-profit health-care system based in the Dakotas.

"Sanford Health in Fargo has started its medical care pilot with the province of Manitoba for a select number of patients requiring specialized spinal care," Brittany Sachdeva, vice-president of operations for Sanford Health Fargo, said in an email on Thursday.

"We expect to care for approximately five patients over the next several weeks."

A spokesperson for Manitoba Health said in an email on Thursday that spinal surgery has begun at Sanford Health in North Dakota and physician leaders are working with patients to initiate services.

"As explained previously, the agreement provides for a pilot phase where a small number of patients will receive care," the Manitoba spokesperson said.

"This process will enable both organizations to get the patient referrals and transitions in place so that this can be a safe and effective care experience."

The province's diagnostic and surgical recovery task force, which was created to tackle the backlog of procedures that were cancelled as Manitoba's health-care system worked to free up space for COVID-19 patients, will provide updates on patient volumes and costs as part of future briefings, the spokesperson said.

Last week, the task force said the number of surgeries and diagnostic procedures done each week in Manitoba was gradually rising to pre-pandemic levels.

About three weeks ago, physicians' organization Doctors Manitoba estimated the backlog had surpassed 161,000 procedures.

On Thursday, president Dr. Kristjan Thompson said at a Zoom news conference said the advocacy group was still working on its next update of that number.

The province has also contracted with organizations and partners to perform over 11,000 procedures that were postponed, the Manitoba Health spokesperson said.

Those include hand and foot procedures at the Pan Am Clinic; cataracts, pediatric dental and plastics procedures at the Western Surgery Centre; urology procedures at CancerCare Manitoba; cataracts at Vision Group Canada; and general surgery and ENT procedures at the Maples Surgical Centre.