The backlog of pediatric surgeries could cause serious long-term complications for children due to COVID-19.
The Globe and Mail reports that two-thirds of children waiting for surgeries are now outside the window for when their procedures should have taken place. That number has doubled isnce last year.
SickKids Associate chief of Surgery Simon Kelley told the newspaper that children with scoliosis, cleft palate, hip dysplasia and limb issues are losing ground they won't be able to make up.
The Globe reports that there were 4,400 SickKids patients on the wait list for scheduled surgery at the end of September, up from 3,800 before the pandemic was declared. There were 6,700 children in line for an MRI, up 25 per cent since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak.
The family of one four-year-old child, Emmett Fisch, spoke to the newspaper. Emmett has been waiting a year and a half for surgery to correct the length of his leg. He was born with it being four centimetres shorter than the other.
If that isn't corrected when he's a child, that discrepancy will skyrocket by the time he's a teenager to the point where he wouldn't be able to walk.