SHA set to close down COVID field hospitals in Regina, Saskatoon

Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 field hospitals are being shut down without ever having housed a patient.

The Saskatchewan Health Authority set up the hospitals at Regina’s Evraz Place and Saskatoon’s Merlis Belsher Place in the early stages of the pandemic, just in case a stream of patients overwhelmed the health-care system.

In a release Friday, the SHA said the field hospitals — which could have housed between 300 and 650 patients combined if required — were being decommissioned.

“We have reached the point in Saskatchewan’s immunization program and Re-Open plan that we can start to decommission field hospitals in the coming weeks, with the intent to return them to their owners for their intended use later this summer,“ SHA CEO Scott Livingstone said in the release.

“The creation of these field hospitals was an essential component of our defensive strategy. And while we continue to monitor COVID hospitalizations and ensure surge plans are in place, we believe field hospitals no longer need to be part of those plans, and are very pleased that we never had to use them.”

As of Friday, 104 COVID patients were in Saskatchewan hospitals. In February, the number of COVID hospitalizations in the province peaked at 238.

The SHA stocked the field hospitals with all the essentials. As the facilities are shut down, the SHA said things like hospital beds and other equipment will be sent to health-care centres around the province “to the areas of greatest need to improve health care for all residents.”

According to the authority, shutting down the facility in Saskatoon is expected to begin Aug. 1. In Regina, the process is to start in August and is expected to be done by the end of September.