The B.C. government said 90 percent of patients who had their surgeries postponed during the first wave of COVID-19 had completed their surgeries as of Nov. 22, 2020. B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix announced Wednesday that between May 18 and Nov. 12, 2020, over 163,000 patients were able to have their procedures done, including 90 percent of those whose surgeries had to be postponed during the first wave of the pandemic. The turnaround came as a result of a surgery renewal plan launched on May 7 to resume non-urgent elective surgeries, postponed on March 16, to free up hospital beds for a potential surge of COVID-19 patients, according to the provincial government. At the time, it was estimated that 30,000 non-urgent scheduled surgeries would either have to be postponed or left on a waitlist due to COVID-19, and a further 24,000 patients could also be without a referral to a …