Covid 19 and surgical care practices: Experience from a tertiary care hospital

Abstract

The raging pandemic of COVID -19 has affected millions of people globally including frontline Healthcare Workers and Surgeons. The confusion and chaos created by the disease forced the medical fraternity around the world to shift its focus and energy on tackling the disease, be it searching for the cure, repurposing existing medications or developing a vaccine. COVID-19 pandemic has reduced the ability to perform surgical procedures worldwide. Surgeons faced unique specialty-specific challenges during this pandemic. Apart from personal risk, there was also professional challenge of prioritization of the limited surgical care available. Challenges faced by the surgeons included impact of the delay on primary surgical outcomes, like increased risk of complications, threat to patient life, threat of permanent organ dysfunction, risk of rapidly progressing severe symptoms and disease progression. This pandemic has not only caused a burden on healthcare workers but the patients have also been severely affected. Non Covid patients bore the maximum brunt of Covid pandemic. As whole focus was shifted to management of Covid patients, non Covid patients felt sidelined. COVID-19 can also complicate the perioperative course with diagnostic challenges and potentially increase the fatality rate. Different societies and bodies have tried to make protocols for this pandemic but our response to and management of this situation will evolve over time.