By Jessie Weisner

Hatters endure one of the longest wait times for hip replacements

Jan 7, 2019 | 3:54 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — When you need a major surgery, especially when it’s a bone replacement, you hope to be in and out of the hospital as quick as possible.

However, when it comes to hip replacements in Medicine Hat, you might be waiting longer than residents in other cities.

Medicine Hat Regional Hospital has one of the longest wait times for hip replacements in the province, at 29.4 weeks.

In Calgary the average wait is 20.9 weeks, in Lethbridge it 26.7 and in Edmonton its 27.2.

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“It could be when out beds get blocked up people that are in long term care,” says Dr. Jack Regehr, AHS South Zone medical director. “We are working on moving people out of the hospital, because then we could do more surgeries.”

Dr. Regehr says there’s additional factors that play into the long wait times as well, such as limited orthopaedic surgeons at the hospital.

Medicine Hat also has a high amount of senior citizens, making up roughly 17.7 per cent of the population.

Regehr adds that the provincial government would likely step in to help if the wait times become too unreasonable.