Surgeries cancelled: Hospitals overfull due to flu epidemic

The Gelre hospitals in Zutphen and Apeldoorn canceled all non-vital surgeries for the time being. The hospitals are overcrowded due to the ongoing flu epidemic, De Stentor reports.

Almost every bed in the hospitals is occupied, and Gelre already deployed extra staff. "We are working with everything we have to cope with the ongoing patient flow", spokesperson for the hospitals Carla Icking said to the newspaper. "We had to take these measures."

She acknowledged that this is very annoying for the patients whose surgeries are canceled. "They prepared themselves for a surgery that is suddenly canceled. But we can not do anything else. The hospitals in the region are also full. We must give priority to patients who need acute care."

Gelre can't say how long it will be before they can restart non-vital surgeries, but expects it won't be shorter than a week and a half. If the patient inflow increases even more, more surgeries will have to be canceled. "We sincerely hope that it does not go that far. But we are dealing with a major influenza epidemic", Icking said to the newspaper.