The Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton is cutting Operating Rooms this month.

The hospital which also serves children throughout Fort McMurray Wood Buffalo is cutting a total of 42 operating rooms in February due to planned staff and physician vacations.

Harvard Media News reached out to the Minister of Health, Adrianna LaGrange for comment on the closures.

“Alberta’s government is taking significant action to make health care better for Albertans and frontline workers who work tirelessly every day to serve their patients,” said the Minister’s office.

“Under our planned refocusing, there will be greater accountability and oversight, particularly in acute care, so that Albertans are able to get access the care they need when they need it.”

The Stollery said that through the February closures, no scheduled surgeries have been canceled or postponed and that the plans were in place before the surgical schedule being set.

“All urgent and emergent surgeries, which include evenings and weekends, are continuing without interruption and we continue to prioritize surgical access and care, reduction in surgical waitlists, and facilitation of surgeries within clinically recommended wait times,” stated Alberta Health Services.

AHS says there will be an additional eight OR closures during March. Nevertheless, AHS notes Stollery’s surgical teams performed the highest number of pediatric surgeries in the province this fiscal year, completing 8,706 cases, an increase of more than 800 surgeries over the previous year.