The provincial NDP suggests the government should utilize all available options to support the health system with the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic causing resource issues. Health Critic Vicki Mowat noted the province could ask for help from the military, civil service and from other provinces. She says the Saskatchewan Health Authority has confirmed that adult patients are receiving care in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Jim Pattison Children’s Hospital because of ICU bed shortages across the province.

The SHA also recently announced redistributing the Saskatchewan Critical Care Resource Allocation Framework to help guide ethical triage decisions around what patients should receive scarce health resources should those choices need to be made. Mowat says, “Other provinces have asked for help when their ICU capacity and long-term care facilities were overwhelmed. It’s time we admit that we need help before it’s too late.”