IMPACT OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON PEDIATRIC SURGICAL PRACTICE IN A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL

Abstract

Introduction: COVID-19 has been everywhere for one year. The first case was reported in early December 2019 and was tagged Pneumonia of unknown origin from the sea whale market in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China. Cases started slowly to swell up. The WHO was informed by the Chinese health authorities about the novelty of this corona virus genome. World Health Organization (WHO) was informed by the Chinese health authority about the novel nature of this genome of corona virus. Materials and Methods: We conducted an analytic cross-sectional study at Kurnool Medical College and GGH, Kurnool. The study was retrospective, considering patients who consulted and/or were operated on in our service of pediatric surgery. The study period went from 24
September 2019 to 23 September 2020. It was subdivided into two six-month periods: the first, before the lock down, was declared (24 September 2019 to 23 March 2020), and the second, during the lockdown period (24 March to 23 September 2020).
Results: During the study period, a total of 6476 consultations were recorded, 1696 patients were admitted to the hospital, and 1225 surgical interventions were performed, 450 of which were emergency procedures. When these activities were compared between the two eras, there was a general decline during the pandemic period: 62.7% fewer consultations, 46% fewer hospitalized patients, 52.4% less surgical interventions, and 55.8% fewer emergency surgical operations. When using Pearson's chi-squared test, all of these differences were found to be statistically significant.
Conclusion: The covid-19 pandemic has challenged the practice of pediatric surgery in the whole world, including in our environment. This resulted in a global reduction of all activities with consequences on pediatric health, which should be investigated in further studies.