More than 550 objects have been unintentionally left in Canadian medical and surgery patients between 2016 and 2018 -- and the problem appears to be getting worse.
A new report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information says 553 foreign items -- such as sponges and medical instruments -- were left behind over that two-year period.
That's a 14 per cent increase between the most recent data collected 2017 and 2018, as well as statistics collected five years earlier.
It's also more than two times the average rate of 12 reporting countries, including Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway, which had the next highest rates.
The information was examined as part of a broad look at how Canada's health-care system compares to other countries.
Tracy Johnson, the institute's director of emerging issues, notes that several peer countries, including the U-S, the U-K and Australia, do not report on cases where foreign objects are left behind, making comparisons difficult.
Canada also had the highest rate of avoidable complications after surgery, including lung clots after hip or knee surgery among 12 countries studied.