Lachine hospital ER to resume normal service in new year: Borough mayor

Montreal -

The Lachine Hospital's ER will reopen to patients arriving at night at the beginning of January, putting an end to reduced services caused by staff shortages, the borough mayor confirmed Friday. 

The McGill University Health Centre (MUHC), which runs the hospital, announced the changes earlier in November amid a serious lack of hospital workers, especially among nurses and respiratory staff.

Ambulances arriving between 7:30 p.m. and 7 a.m. are being redirected for most patients, excluding those with the most serious and urgent needs. 

Some spoke out following the closure, saying the Lachine hospital is a vital resource for those who live nearby, being the only hospital in the area primarily offering services in French. It's also used by the MUHC as a teaching hospital. 

Regular services will resume, however, as the hospital prepares for a major renovation, which will add an additional six-storey wing. 

The new facility will house a brand new operating room, emergency care, intensive and palliative care units, and other services, Lachine Borough Mayor Maja Vodanovic wrote to social media on Friday. The addition is expected to cost $225 million.

"Ultimately, the project will allow the hospital to offer patients 62 single rooms with bathrooms and state-of-the-art equipment," wrote the borough mayor. 

Construction on the new wing will begin in May and should be completed in 2025, she wrote. Renovation on the existing building will begin after that.