Malliotakis wrote letter to Cuomo urging him for State Department of Health to lift bans on elective surgeries

April 23, 2020 Jaime DeJesus

Malliotakis wrote letter to Cuomo urging Cuomo that State Department of Health lift bans on elective surgeries

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On Tuesday, April 21, Assemblymember Nicole Malliotakis wrote a letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo asking that the New York State Department of Health develop a timeline to lift the ban on elective surgeries. In addition, she requested they develop a priority schedule to begin rescheduling procedures throughout the state, beginning with those addressing life-threatening conditions.

“As the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and patients in the ICU continue to decrease and patients discharged from hospitals continue to increase, it is necessary to develop a strategy with adequate transparency outlining how we will reschedule all postponed elective surgical cases,” she wrote.

Malliotakis added, “In the past two weeks, I have been contacted by a number of constituents, including patients and surgeons, who have inquired as to when we can expect to see a restart of elective surgeries, particularly those addressing life threatening conditions. I have also discussed the issue with facility administrators who agree with my assessment that this will become a public health issue if we don’t address it soon.”

She said that she is looking to Cuomo’s office and the New York state Department of Health to, “provide consistent, prudent guidance as to proper prioritization of surgical cases, in consultation with hospital administrators and leadership of the various statewide surgical subspecialty societies, to reduce and eliminate the backlog of existing surgical cases expediently and safely.”

Malliotakis also discussed the financial impact not having a necessary surgery has on an individual who cannot work due to their condition. Patients are not the only ones impacted by a continued ban on elective surgery. The longer the ban continues, the greater the impact it will have on hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers and those they employ.

“Now that it appears that the worst part of the COVID-19 outbreak is over, it is imperative that all facilities begin to develop protocols to deal with prioritizing surgeries based on issues related to medical necessity and time sensitivity. One of my constituents has been waiting for a mastectomy. Another suffers from great pain due to a kidney condition. We will have another public health issue on our hands if we do not address this soon,” Malliotakis said.