PETERBOROUGH, N.H. — Monadnock Community Hospital in Peterborough has called off major elective surgeries, along with outpatient imaging and lab work, as a network failure that began Monday continues to hobble its systems, WMUR reported Thursday.

The problem could last until Nov. 18, according to The Keene Sentinel, which cited a Facebook update hospital officials posted Thursday.

The hospital will reach out to patients whose procedures have to be pushed back, WMUR reported. According to the station, the hospital said specialists are still trying to pin down why its systems went down. No cause has been made public.

Monadnock's emergency room has not closed. Still, WMUR reported, ambulance crews are taking patients to other hospitals when it is safe to do so, and people who need a specialist's attention are being moved to different hospitals as well.

Phones and internet first failed Monday, the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript reported. The regional fire mutual aid dispatch center told the newspaper that by noon that day the hospital had stopped accepting incoming patients. The closest alternatives are Cheshire Medical Center in Keene and Heywood Hospital in Gardner, Mass., the paper noted.

Laura Gingras, who handles community relations for the hospital as a vice president, told the Ledger-Transcript that backup phone lines were in use and that people with booked visits were still getting care. She declined to say whether incoming patients were being accepted.

"The hospital IT department and leadership are actively working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We appreciate the patience and understanding of everyone as we work to restore this," Gingras said in a statement, the Ledger-Transcript reported.

By Tuesday, outpatient lab and radiology visits had been scrapped, WMUR reported.

Carol Whitcomb of Brookline, whose appointment went ahead, told WMUR the receptionist could not use her computer. "They have to do everything with pen and pencil," Whitcomb said.

Sue Garcia, a newcomer to Peterborough who said the hospital helped draw her to town, told WMUR: "You want to know as you get older that you're going to be able to get care immediately in a case of an emergency."