Interior Health (IH) says Oliver hospital's emergency room will be closed through the early hours of Saturday, July 13, due to a doctor shortage.

Emergency services will be unavailable at the South Okanagan General Hospital from 1 a.m. to 7 a.m.

Patients can access care at the Penticton Regional Hospital during this time, IH said.

The hospital's emergency department has been plagued with closures through the first half of 2024, after it closed more than a dozen times last fall.

After Oliver Mayor Martin Johansen called the service interruptions "unacceptable," the B.C. government committed $7.5 million to help stabilize physical emergency-room coverage at hospitals in Oliver, Merritt and Salmon Arm.

That provincial pledge was made in October 2023.

All other inpatient services will continue as normal at South Okanagan General Hospital during Saturday morning's closure.