Quebec is experiencing serious overcrowding in its emergency rooms after the holidays, with some major hospitals in Montreal operating at more than 200 percent capacity.
Around midday, Montreal General Hospital was at 213 percent ER capacity; the Jewish General Hospital was reporting 209 percent capacity; and the Royal Victoria Hospital, part of the McGill University Health Centre, was listed at 203 percent.
The data is tracked by the Index Santé website, operated by ESG Média.
Quebec government data says the average ER wait time across the province is five hours, and the average time patients spend on a stretcher is more than 16 hours.
One emergency room physician in Montreal says the overcrowding is trending toward pre-pandemic levels, a situation he says is both entirely predictable and preventable….