Southern Health believes the Emergency Room at Bethesda Regional Health Centre in Steinbach will be able to handle the extra patient load now that it is the only 24-hour ER in southeastern Manitoba. Dr. Denis Fortier, vice-president of Medical Services, made the comment after it was announced that the Ste. Anne Hospital ER was being temporarily reduced to service between 8:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. due to a shortage of doctors. Fortier says Bethesda can accommodate more patients at its ER.

"Historically, that time of the day, 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., is a quieter time for all ERs including Bethesda. And then when we look at the numbers of patients that did attend the Ste. Anne Hospital during those periods of time, we're probably looking at an additional three to four patients coming in to Bethesda through the night."

Fortier says they ask that people only go to the ER for true emergencies and not for less serious matters. He reiterates the situation in Ste. Anne is temporary.

"We believe this is a temporary situation. We've never seen this before in Ste. Anne and so we didn't plan for this. We don't anticipate it will last long. Having said that, doctors don't always fall from the sky or from the trees very quickly, so we are looking around and checking out what our options are. But definitely, we anticipate this is going to be temporary."

Southern Health says it will review the doctor situation at Ste. Anne Hospital at the end of November and make a decision then on when to resume 24-hour ER service.