New surgical clinic could double number of eye surgeries done in Windsor

A new state-of-the-art surgical facility has opened on Windsor’s east side and is expected to double the number of eye surgeries being done annually in the city.

The Windsor Surgical Centre’s new home on Tecumseh Road East near Clover Avenue is the latest fruit borne from a partnership with the Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH).

Non-urgent eye surgeries were at one point done in a single operating room in the basement of the WRH’s Ouellette Campus but the partnership formed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw hospital-registered patients sent to a newer surgical centre off Walker Road.

Dr. Barry Emara, lead ophthalmologist and co-owner of the surgical centre, told CTV News the location gave them the ability to conduct about 4,500 surgeries a year.

The new, 12,000 sq. ft. facility, with four operating rooms, a designated laser room and 15 pre and post-op bays allows for close to 10,000 surgeries a year.

“We have all along kind of had a vision for a facility like this,” said. Emara.

He added the only change patients will experience is the location and a slightly more comfortable environment.

According to Emara, OHIP coverage should all work the same. There’s no added costs and parking is free at the facility, whereas most parking around the hospital requires payment.

“At the end of the day, that’s who we built this centre for. The patients,” said Emara.

Though the grand opening of the facility was held on Thursday, surgeries actually started being done on site two months ago.

In that time they’ve already done between 1,000 and 1,500 procedures.

Eamara said they’re primarily doing cataracts surgeries and operations to repair retinal detachment but hopes the practice can expand to conduct even more varieties of eye surgery.

A facility like this, he said, could see more ophthalmologists with more diverse specialties attracted to the area.

“This region is going to need that kind of volume, just with the aging population and the numbers that are coming through our office,” he said.