The Saskatoon Health Region has cleared a backlog of pathology tests after hundreds of patients waited for results because of a shortage of specialists.

"There are only two ways to get rid of backlog," said Joseph Blondeau, interim head of the health region's department of pathology and laboratory medicine.

"You either farm the work out to somebody else, which means you're paying to send the work out of province or out of the city, or you bring in extra resources."

The health region did both while recruiting several pathologists to work in the city.

For most of 2011, pathologists in the Saskatoon Health Region could not keep up with the volume of work coming their way. Tissue samples were sent out for testing, first to Regina and later to Toronto and the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

In addition to the courier cost of sending specimens, the health region was paying between $300 and $700 for a sample to be read by a pathologist working for another agency.

In addition, several local pathologists worked overtime to clear more of the backlog, bumping up their salaries significantly.

Nine of the top wage earners in the health region in 2011-12 were pathologists. The highest-paid employee, Dr. Usharani Ganugapati, received $483,774. The provincial pay grid for pathologists ranges from $290,321 to $333,869 annually.

"When we were short of pathologists, there were some pathologists who for one reason or another had extra capacity and had decided that in an attempt to (reduce) the cases that were backlogged had worked extra hours. They gave up their evenings and weekends," said Blondeau.

Now, the pathology department is in rebuilding mode after years of tumult.

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Pathology backlog cleared