Alberta's hospital triage program in operation after months of delays: Danielle Smith

Alberta's premier says six emergency rooms across the province now have physicians triaging patients.

Danielle Smith said during her provincewide call-in radio show that the triage teams were in place as of Saturday.

Alberta's government announced in January its plans for a program in which physicians would help triage patients following Prashant Sreekumar's high-profile death at Edmonton's Grey Nuns Community Hospital.

The 44-year-old waited nearly eight hours in an emergency room to have his chest pain assessed before he died on Dec. 22, 2025.

The Alberta Medical Association said shortly after that he was among several patients who died around that time while waiting for care across Alberta's emergency rooms.

The triage program was met with delays as the provincial government and the medical association sorted out operational details and physician contracts.

"It took longer than we hoped, but we now have six facilities where, as of today, they've got triage docs in their emergency room," Smith said during the radio show on Saturday.

"If someone comes in and they have a condition that doesn't require them to be admitted, then let's treat and release them really quickly or get them to a different facility ... so that they're not going to be in the hospital waiting room waiting for hours."

A public inquiry into Sreekumar's death is scheduled to resume in December.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2026.

By Fakiha Baig | Copyright 2026, The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.