Cyberattack forces Belgian hospital AZ Monica to shut down systems and transfer critical patients

A cyberattack disrupted operations at Belgian hospital network AZ Monica early Tuesday, forcing administrators to shut down all servers, cancel scheduled procedures, and transfer critically ill patients to other facilities as emergency services operated at reduced capacity.

AZ Monica, a general hospital network providing acute, outpatient, and specialized medical care across campuses in Antwerp and Deurne, disconnected its IT systems at 6:32 a.m. after detecting the incident. The shutdown immediately affected access to digital medical records, prompting the hospital to suspend all scheduled surgeries and non-urgent consultations for the day.

Hospital officials said urgent treatment is continuing and patients already admitted remain under care. Seven patients requiring critical care were transferred to other hospitals with assistance from the Red Cross. All remaining patients are staying at AZ Monica, though administrators warned that intake and registration for new patients will be slower as staff revert to paper-based processes.

The emergency department remains open but is operating at reduced capacity. Emergency medical services and intensive care transport units are currently unavailable, and no patients are being transported to the hospital by ambulance. Patients in need of urgent care were advised to contact their general practitioner, an out-of-hours clinic, or another emergency service when possible.

The hospital notified relevant authorities, and police and prosecutors have launched an investigation into the cybersecurity incident. Officials have not disclosed the nature of the attack or whether patient data was compromised.