Trends of surgical-care delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Context: The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdowns adversely affected global healthcare services to varying extents. To accommodate its added burden, emergency services were affected along-with elective surgeries. Aims: To quantify and analyze the trends of essential surgeries and bellwether procedures during the waxing and waning of the pandemic, across various hospitals in India. Settings and Design: Multi-centric retrospective study. Methods and Material: A research consortium led by World Health Organization (WHO) Collaboration Center (WHOCC) for Research in Surgical Care Delivery in Low-and Middle-Income countries, India, conducted this study with 5 centers. All surgeries performed during April 2020 (Wave I), November 2020 (Recovery I), and April 2021 (Wave II) were compared with those performed in April 2019 (pre-pandemic period). Statistical Analysis Used: Microsoft Excel 2019 and SPSS Version 20. Results: The total number of surgeries reduced by 77% during Wave I, which improved to a 52% reduction in Recovery I compared to the pre-pandemic period. However, surgeries were reduced again during Wave II to 68%, but the reduction was less compared to Wave I. Emergency and essential surgeries were affected along with the elective ones but to a lesser extent. Conclusions: The present study has quantified the effects of the pandemic on surgical-care delivery across a timeline and documented a reduction in overall surgical volumes during the peaks of the pandemic (Wave I and II) with minimal improvement as the surge of COVID-19 cases declined (Recovery II). The surgical volumes improved during the second wave compared to the first one which may be attributable to better preparedness. Cesarean sections were affected the least.