MONTREAL -- Officials at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM), have warned Montrealers to stay away from their emergency room after a pipe burst, reducing their ability to treat patients.
The CHUM's emergency room can only operate at about one-third capacity, officials said, and the pipe will take three weeks to repair.
The timing of the burst pipe has aggravated overcrowding at other emergency rooms across the city, according to Dr. Ewa Sidorowicz, professional services director at the MUHC.
"All the ERs have been at or over capacity," she said. "We certainly have been at the MUHC."
Outbreaks of gastroenteritis and the flu have added to the problem--which is common during the holidays, she said.
"As people get together and celebrate and share not just their presents but also some germs, as we get closer to the new year, we see more and more infectious disease coming to the emergency room," she said.
But not everyone who heads to the emergency room should be there, Sidorowicz added. If you feel sick, call 811 for health information, she said.
Most Quebec hospital emergency rooms on Monday were at over 100 per cent capacity. You can check emergency room occupancy rates here.
With files from CTV Montreal's Billy Shields.
