Non-urgent elective surgeries suspended in Melbourne and major regional cities

Elective surgery will temporarily be reduced to urgent procedures only for public and private hospitals in Melbourne and major regional cities from tomorrow.

The reductions will apply to public health services in Melbourne, and Barwon Health, Ballarat Health Services campus of Grampians Health, Bendigo Health, Goulburn Valley Health and Latrobe Regional Hospital.

Private hospitals and day procedure centres in Melbourne and private hospitals in Geelong, Bendigo, Ballarat, the Latrobe Valley and Shepparton will also be required to follow the same restrictions.

The change comes in response to an increasing number of patients with COVID-19.

Elective surgeries which are scheduled for admission tomorrow or Friday may still occur in some instances.

The Victorian Health Department says it will review the situation regularly and “non-urgent surgery can resume when it is safe to do so”.

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