ANZCA joins medical colleges for COVID-19 surgery statement

26 August 2021

ANZCA and six other Australian and New Zealand medical colleges support postponing elective surgery during COVID-19 infection surges.

ANZCA President Dr Vanessa Beavis was interviewed by stuff.co.nz about the joint statement.

"Various health authorities are trying hard to do the right thing and are getting a lot of pushback from private interests. There’s a lot of pressure to do surgery,” she said.

“We wanted to make the point that, at this particular point in time, really planned surgery – unless it's going to severely affect a patient in the next 30 days – should be postponed.”

The colleges also want certainty for patients on  when electives might be able to resume, she said.

“We better have a solid and good plan for restarting, because there's going to be a big catch up.”

The full statement is here.