Most medical Y2K bugs squashed
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* Barbara Sibbald

Despite widespread fears of "a potentially huge problem," only 19 Y2K-related medical equipment or system problems had been reported to CYNCH, the Canadian Year 2000 National Clearinghouse for Health, by Jan. 11. Doug Bateson, deputy director at the clearinghouse, said none of the problems posed "even a minor threat to patients."

Since May 1998, CYNCH has received regular updates on Y2K compliance and problems from all provincial ministries of health, Health Canada's Therapeutic Products Program and Public Works and Government Services Canada. It has also monitored the situation worldwide. By Jan. 11, only 29 health care-related Y2K problems had been reported in the US. All the Canadian failures involved either faulty dates on printouts or administrative systems that failed to start properly. "The fact that even some glitches occurred means our assumption of risk was correct," says Bateson.

He credits the "quite amazing" low numbers with the level of effort governments, institutions and especially suppliers put into fixing things. "There are hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment in Canada. It's hard to believe there wouldn't have been something of greater significance." CYNCH will continue to monitor problems and post results on its Web site, [www.cynch.org](http://www.cynch.org); look under the Navigators toolbar.

Health Canada was also "pleasantly surprised" by the outcome. It expects to have a final tally of problems by the end of January ([www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpb-dgps/therapeut/htmleng/y2k_md.html](http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hpb-dgps/therapeut/htmleng/y2k_md.html)). "There were some problems, but the manufacturers are on top of them now," said spokesperson Denis Roy. He added that the Federal Bureau of Compliance and Enforcement is following up on these cases. Some problems were expected because "quite a few devices were listed as noncompliant," said Roy. The Web site featured 72 pages of noncompliant or possibly noncompliant "high-risk devices with major issues."