On April 15, Governor Mike DeWine announced that he has asked the Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) to develop a plan to begin treating patients whose non-COVID-19 elective procedures were delayed or deferred due to the ongoing pandemic.
The Ohio Department of Health previously ordered that elective surgeries be postponed to expand hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients and to conserve the personal protective equipment (PPE) that is in short supply.
“We have seen in the last week that Ohio has appeared to flatten the curve, and we feel much better about the capacity of hospitals today. However, there are still serious concerns about the lack of PPE,” said Gov. DeWine. “As we begin looking at doing procedures that have been delayed, I’ve asked the OHA to look at this issue with the shortage of PPE in mind.”
Gov. DeWine requested that the plan be completed within one week.