5.80l surgeries in India cancelled due to Covid

● THE RESEARCHERS project that worldwide 72.3 per cent of planned surgeries would be cancelled through the peak period of Covid-19 related disruption.

London, May 15: More than 5,80,000 planned surgeries in India might be cancelled or delayed as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a study conducted by an international consortium.

The study, published in the British Journal of Surgery, has projected that, based on a 12-week period of peak disruption to hospital services due to Covid-19, around 28.4 million elective surgeries worldwide will be cancelled or postponed in 2020. This will lead to patients facing a lengthy wait for their health issues to be resolved, according to the research conducted by the CovidSurg Collaborative, a research network of over 5,000 surgeons from 120 countries focused on the impact of Covid-19 on surgical care.

The study was led by members based in the UK, Benin, Ghana, India, Italy, Mexico, Nigeria, Rwanda, Spain, South Africa and the US. The modelling study indicates that each additional week of disruption to hospital services will be associated with a further 2.4 million cancellations.

The researchers, including those from the University of Birmingham in the UK, collected detailed information from surgeons across 359 hospitals and 71 countries on plans for cancellation of elective surgery. This data was then statistically modelled to estimate totals for cancelled surgery across 190 countries.

The researchers project that worldwide 72.3 per cent of planned surgeries would be cancelled through the peak period of Covid-19 related disruption, adding that most cancelled surgeries will be for non-cancer conditions. In India, 5,84,737 patients may face surgery cancellations or delays over a 12week period around the time the Coronavirus disease peaks, according to the study estimate.

Orthopaedic procedures will be cancelled most frequently, with 6.3 million orthopaedic surgeries cancelled worldwide over a 12week period, the resear-chers said.

The study is also projected that globally 2.3 million cancer surgeries will be cancelled or postponed, they said. — PTI