Surgeries are being cancelled for the next 10 days at a Regina hospital because of equipment sterilization issues.

The Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region says it's postponing surgeries at the Pasqua Hospital, one of two hospitals in the capital city.

Health region CEO Keith Dewar says a team is working to identify the root cause of the problem and how to fix it.

However, the health region also says no risk or harm to patients has occurred and the equipment is considered clean.

The health region said Tuesday that staff doing quality control assurance weren't able to ensure the surgical equipment can be properly sterilized and cancelled 16 surgeries for Wednesday.

It initially expected the issue to be corrected within a day.