Iowa City Today

The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics (UIHC) has postponed all elective and non-emergent surgeries due to the fallout from COVID-19.

UIHC CEO Suresh Gunasekaran sent an e-mail last week announcing the postponement because the severity of the virus requires critical and emergency surgeries to take priority.

"We anticipated and prepared for this phase of community spread of COVID-19," Gunasekaran wrote in the e-mail, the Des Moines Register reported. "Given this and other external factors, we must move forward on activating the clinical contingency plans as we face potential challenges with staffing and in conservation efforts of our medical supplies."

Gunasekaran also noted that he wants to preserve supplies and wants some hospital jobs to be adjusted, the news agency reported. He also wants the hospital to create its own in-house COVID-19 testing.

The hospital is trying to prepare itself for anything, the news agency reported.

"It signifies we're getting ready," Gunasekaran told the news agency, regarding internal e-mails. "That we're trying to be responsible. These are the moments that you need to get focused."

Hospitals are facing many potential challenges due to the possibility of being overwhelmed by the number of coronavirus patients that could start flooding hospitals, the news agency reported.

The hospital is not the only one working to figure out what to do due to the coronavirus, the news agency reported.

Other hospitals, such as Mercy Medical Center, Surgery Center Cedar Rapids and Physicians' Clinic of Iowa, Mercy Physicians and UnityPoint Health-St. Luke's Hospital, among others, have also canceled or plan to cancel "non-life threatening, non-urgent surgeries and procedures," the news agency reported.

As of March 27, Iowa had 235 confirmed cases, according to COVID-19 in Iowa. The state has also currently had three deaths and there are 18 who are discharged or recovering. The data in Iowa shows there are 110 males with positive test results and 125 females.