UMC Groningen postpones dozens of cancer and heart surgeries

Dozens of cancer and heart patients scheduled to undergo surgery over the next two weeks at the University Medical Center in Groningen will have to wait until after the May holiday period, the UMCG announced. Only emergency procedures are guaranteed during that time as the number of Covid-19 hospital patients there continues to increase.

The hospital stated they made the decision because multiple times in recent days there was no room to treat a patient in need of acute care. “We solved that problem with the assistance of other hospitals or postponing an operation”, a hospital spokesperson said to RTV Noord.

Other hospitals are no longer able to take over UMCG patients, the spokesperson added. On Friday morning, the Treant Zorggroep, which manages several hospitals in Drenthe, also announced they will be closing many operating theaters.

To allow for acute care, the UMCG canceled between three to five surgeries every day for the upcoming one and a half weeks. This also includes organ transplant procedures.

Diederik Gommers is a national leader in the field of intensive care, a member of the Outbreak Management Team, and a Professor of Intensive Care Medicine at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam. He warned of the dangers of delaying procedures in an interview with NOS this weekend.

“You hear from peers that tumors are more serious now than what we are normally used to. There is nothing worse than being on a waiting list with a time bomb in your body and the operation is postponed", he said.

Gommers stated that at the Erasmus MC the frequency of operations has also gone down by 30 percent. “Normally we have five operation theaters for open-heart surgeries and now we only have one, maybe two. Therefore, you can only provide strictly urgent care”, the professor stated.

Gommers emphasized that Covid-19 patients do not get priority over patients with diseases unrelated to the coronavirus, saying the first person with intensive care needs gets the first available space. "That can be a trauma patient who is in need of surgery or a Covid-19 patient who requires artificial respiration.”

Hospitals expect coronavirus infections will increase due to King’s Day celebrations and the loosening of coronavirus restrictions.

The UMCG stated they are monitoring the situation closely to see if heart and cancer operations will be able to continue after the May holidays.