For immediate release: April 14, 2025
Saskatchewan NDP Demands Premier, Health Minister Come Clean On ‘Unprecedented Crisis’ At Neonatal Intensive Care Unit At Regina General
REGINA – The Saskatchewan NDP is demanding the Premier and Health Minister come clean on a crisis impacting the care of critically sick newborns at the Regina General Hospital.
The Saskatchewan Union of Nurses published an anonymous email late Friday afternoon that appears to be from a frontline healthcare worker in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at the Regina General Hospital. SUN told the Saskatchewan NDP this morning that the situation at the NICU has been dire for weeks and that they’ve received dozens of complaints from healthcare workers in the unit.
“The NICU at Regina General Hospital is facing an unprecedented crisis,” the email to SUN reads. “We've been operating over capacity for weeks, with no immediate relief in sight. Our dedicated staff are exhausted, working extended hours and multiple overtime shifts to ensure our most vulnerable patients receive the care they need.
“The situation is becoming critical: 1:1 patient care assignments are being doubled, and today we used our last available ventilator.
“We are doing everything we can, but the strain is real — and growing.”
Meara Conway, Saskatchewan NDP Shadow Minister for Rural & Remote Health, said she was devastated to learn of the crisis.
“These are babies and the healthcare they critically need isn’t there for them — this is every parent’s worst nightmare,” said Conway, who herself is expecting her third child and expects to give birth in the RGH.
“It’s unacceptable that weeks into this crisis, we only know about this because of the courage of a frontline healthcare worker who is clearly desperate. The Sask. Party discloses nothing and does nothing.
“Some of these babies are fighting to live and everything possible should be done to provide the lifesaving care they need.”
Conway demanded immediate public disclosure of the situation at the RGH NICU and a full public reporting of what emergency measures are being taken to add staff to the unit and bring on more ventilators, as well as daily updates until the situation is addressed.
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