EFFECT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC ON WAITING TIMES OF PATIENTS FOR ELECTIVE SURGERIES IN LAHORE GENERAL HOSPITAL: A CROSS SECTIONAL STUDY

Abstract

Background: This cross-sectional study focused on delay in elective surgeries during the 1st wave (May to July, 2020) and 2nd wave (Nov to Dec, 2020) of Covid-19 pandemic. Primary aim of this research was to find out the effects of Covid-19 restrictions on patients who presented and got selected for elective surgeries in Lahore General Hospital. Amid Covid-19 there was either postponement or reduction in elective surgery lists causing a huge buildup of patients waiting for surgery.

Objectives: To establish weather Covid-19 pandemic adversely affected patients on elective surgeries by increasing gap period between presentation and elective procedure.

Methods: Data for elective surgery lists were gathered from Lahore General Hospital for two years 2019 and 2020. All surgical procedures performed and cases postponed were noted for both years. Then data from year 2020 (Covid-19 era) was compared to reference year 2019 (pre-Covid era). The patients per list, total patients, their means and frequencies of the most common surgical procedures were calculated separately.

Results: A total of 750 surgeries were included in the study from Covid-19 affected months of 2020 and respective months of 2019. The increased waiting time of patients resulted in an average 38.9% decrease in cases per list in 2020 as compared with 2019. Frequency of elective procedures started declining rapidly with the onset of lock down in the first covid-19 wave from mid-April to early May 2020. This reached a maximum in late May and June due to buildup of more and more deferred cases. In mid-July 2020 and thereafter there were “smart lockdowns” with partial restrictions, but elective surgeries still remained lagging far behind as compared with 2019.

Conclusion: Coved-19 pandemic posed a heavy strain on the health care system with elective surgery waiting times increased by as much as 3-5 times in some cases. Even though the elective surgery turnover was increased by one-fifth as a compensation after imposition of “smart lockdown”. This delay also led to a reported increased morbidity and mortality during the lock down era in 2020.