LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Indiana hospitals are back to performing elective surgeries, at least on a limited basis.
The treatment of noncritical medical problems has been on hold in the state because of the pandemic. Elective surgery fell 80%-90% over the last six weeks, as Indiana hospitals were ordered to conserve their beds, equipment and staff to treat the anticipated surge in coronavirus patients.
Now hospitals are slowly gearing up to restart their operating rooms. Some began as early as Monday morning at Johnson Memorial Health in Franklin.
"We actually started calling people last week and we started doing surgery this morning," said Dr. David Dunkle, president and CEO of Johnson Memorial in a report by Fox59 in Indianapolis. "It's amazing how many people have tried to put things off during this time."
Other hospitals, such as Franciscan Health in Indianapolis, have a backlog of hundreds of patients who had previously scheduled elective surgeries that were put on hold.
Marci Bennett, director of patient care services at Franciscan Health, said, "We also have to make certain we have enough bets to put patients in. We have appropriate staffing with those people who have been deployed, we have to get them back."
Patients who had to delay their elective procedures because of the pandemic may struggle to get them rescheduled immediately because of the pent-up demand.
Copyright 2020 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved. Fox59 also contributed to this report.
