Canterbury District Health Board faces a deficit of more than $13 million this financial year due to the earthquakes in September last year and February.
A board meeting was told on Friday that there is $60 million worth of damage to hospital buildings and facilities.
Chief executive David Meates says quake damage is still being assessed and quantified, and further significant costs are expected.
He says 104 general medical and specialist surgical beds remain closed and there was a waiting list of 102 in April for cardiac coronary angiograms.
Elective surgery that could not be deferred is now being done in Christchurch and there are plans to send 500 elective surgery cases to the private sector.
Mr Meates says nurses are operating as flexibly as they can, the workload facing maintenance and engineering staff remains high, and staff in general are noticeably tired and anxious.
