Article content

The Ottawa Hospital has a plan to triple the number of beds in its intensive care unit if and when the COVID-19 pandemic demands that level of emergency response, a senior doctor says.

Dr. Dave Neilipovitz, head of the department of critical care, said The Ottawa Hospital has been planning for a pandemic since the SARS outbreak in 2003.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or The Ottawa Hospital has a plan to triple the number of ICU beds: Doctor Back to video

“We’re getting prepared to increase the number of beds we have available,” Dr. Neilipovitz said in an interview. “We’re working diligently to make that happen.”

jpg

The hospital’s General campus has a 28-bed ICU that specializes in respiratory, thoracic and cancer care, while the Civic campus has another 28-bed ICU that specializes in neurological, vascular and trauma care. The Civic campus serves as the region’s main trauma centre.

Dr. Neilipovitz said the hospital has a plan to increase both of those intensive care units to more than triple their current size. “We’re trying to get to 100 ICU beds at both campuses of The Ottawa Hospital,” he said.