'Super bug' cancels elective surgery
Posted
An antibiotic resistant 'super bug' has forced Coffs Harbour Health Campus, on the New South Wales mid-north coast, to cancel elective surgery again today.
Twenty-two people now have the bacterial infection known as VRE, despite a major push to eradicate it.
One critically ill patient had to be transferred to Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.
Area health service chief executive officer Chris Crawford says he is confident the bug will not spread to any other hospitals, but cancelling elective surgery is a necessary precaution.
"On that basis it was decided that we will continue to postpone elective surgery again on August 6," he said.
"On the afternoon of the 6th a decision will be made as to whether elective surgery will be undertaken on August 7th."
