Oliver hospital害羞草研究所檚 emergency room is once again closing due to a doctor shortage.

Interior Health (IH) says emergency services at the South Okanagan General Hospital will be unavailable from 7 p.m. on Friday, May 10, to 7 a.m. on Saturday, May 11.

Patients can access care at the Penticton Regional Hospital during this time, the regional health authority added.

Oliver hospital害羞草研究所檚 emergency room continues to be plagued with closures this year after it was forced to temporarily shut down more than a dozen times through the fall of 2023.

Doctor shortages forced the department to close for three weekends in a row earlier this winter.

Before this weekend, the night of April 9 marked the last time emergency services were made unavailable in the South Okanagan community.

Recent service interruptions come after the B.C. government committed $7.5 million to help stabilize physician emergency-room coverage in hospitals in Merritt, Oliver and Salmon Arm. That pledge was made in October 2023.

All other hospital services will continue as normal on Friday night and Saturday morning at South Okanagan General Hospital.

People in the community who need life-threatening emergency care should call 911 for transport to the nearest available and appropriate facility, IH said.