The emergency room at the Nicola Valley Hospital in Merritt has been shut down until 8am Saturday morning, with the Mayor of the community worried this won’t be the last of the shutdowns this weekend — or this month.

Interior Health has not said what has prompted the this latest 25 hour shutdown, though the most recent shutdowns of the ER in Merritt have been related to a lack of doctors.

Merritt Mayor Mike Goetz says the latest closure, which began at 7am on Friday, does not come as a surprise.

He says it lines up with insider information from the Health Authority he was given last month.

“If we go with what they’ve been talking about, we’re going to see November 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 10th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 22nd, 24th, 29th and 30th,” noted Goetz.  “It might be sudden to them, but its not sudden to us, because I was given these dates.”

With a new provincial government in the process of being formed, Goetz suggests a change in health care leadership could be in order, noting Adrian Dix has been in charge of the Health portfolio in BC since the NDP formed government in 2017.

“Hopefully this new government forming will actually find a spokesman who can actually make some sense, and stop making ridiculous comments and focus on what the problem is and get them fixed.”

Merritt and area residents in need of emergency medical care are being told to head specifically to Kamloops this time, with Kelowna not listed as alternative option, as it normally would be.

Forecasts have 5 to 10-centimeters of snow on the Okanagan Connector today, though the Coquihalla from Merritt to Kamloops is expecting some snow as well.