The Government of Saskatchewan announced that the province’s surgical system reached the highest quarterly surgical volume ever recorded.

Between January 1 and March 31 of this year, 24,306 procedures were performed.

That is a part of the over 90,000 surgical procedures performed from April 1, 2022, to March 31, 2023, the highest ever recorded in Saskatchewan for one year.

Health Minister Paul Merriman said the record-setting numbers wouldn’t be possible without the surgical teams and support staff across the province.

“This progress is welcome news as we move forward with surgical investments increasing by $42.5 million in this year’s budget. We will continue to maximize system capacity by optimizing public surgical services and expanding the involvement of private sector partners in publicly funded surgical service delivery.”

The province is looking to continue the record-breaking pace. In 2023-24, they are looking to complete 103,000 surgeries with efforts to expand surgical capacity, including long-term investment in both public surgical services and publicly funded privately delivered centres set to help the province achieve that goal.

Additional short-term measures include utilizing efficiencies in operating rooms and scheduling processes and ensuring key staffing complements.

In 2023-24, the annual investment for the surgical program is nearly $670 million, a $144 million or 27 per cent increase since 2007.