The Health Service Executive has confirmed that the regional orthopaedic unit for the northeast is to close this week until the New Year due to lack of funds.
The unit, based in Our Lady's Hospital in Navan, had been due to shut from mid-December but that has been brought forward.
It had been operating on a three-day week in recent times in an effort to save money.
Planned surgery at the unit includes hip and knee joint replacements.
It was announced last month that, due to cutbacks, patients would only be operated on three days a week and the unit would shut from mid-December.
Now the HSE says the unit will close this week, possibly as early as today or tomorrow, when the money runs out.
It says a budget of over €600,000 was to have lasted from the start of September to the proposed closure date of 12 December.
However, consultants say this budget was applied retrospectively and they were not told of it until several weeks later.
The HSE, which claims 44 patients will have their surgery postponed, has apologised but said the waiting times in Navan are well below the national targets.
Doctors say that is due to the orthopaedic unit's efficiency and they claim patients are now being penalised because of it.
