Everyone knows that the pandemic was devastating to the medical system. All non-urgent cases were set aside during the pandemic. Only cases of cancer and trauma were treated. This created major problems in health care, and we are struggling to get back to normal. We are trying to catch up, but are not there yet.
This highlighted the weaknesses of our system, which was already stretched to 110%. So when the pandemic hit, we were unable to absorb the additional pressure on us. We have all seen the effects of that.
Certain things can be done, however. Some centres in Canada have invested in women's health, including ours. I have to say that we are very lucky in Vancouver because B.C.'s women's hospital recognized the importance of women's surgery. It created a surgical program specifically for women and their illnesses. It made available a number of operating rooms for day surgeries and minimally invasive procedures that did not require major surgery. So we can do our major procedures at the hospital where they should be done, and minor procedures elsewhere.
Such models exist, but it takes motivation and money to develop them. We were lucky that our hospital and the B.C. government recognized the importance of this.