Have General Surgery Practices Decreased During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Abstract

Background As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic started, some restrictions were imposed throughout the country. The pandemic caused disruption, reduction, and even a halt in health services worldwide. During this period, the number of procedures performed in surgical clinics decreased due to the interruption of services and the restriction in patient admissions. Methodology In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of the pandemic on the number of surgeries performed in our clinic during the pre- and post-pandemic period by evaluating the following elective surgeries conducted between September 2018 and September 2021: upper gastrointestinal system, abdominal wall hernia, gallbladder surgeries, and kidney transplantation. Results A significant decrease was observed in the number of operations before and after the pandemic in our clinic. Conclusions In our opinion, both the Ministry of Health and healthcare institutions should increase the necessary precautions, organize the planning and programming in hospitals, and increase efforts in protecting healthcare workers and patients by increasing surgical practices and ensuring that the healthcare services we provide reach the numbers noted during the pre-pandemic period.

Keywords: count; covid-19; general surgery; operation; sars-cov-2; surgery.

Figure 1. Comparison of preoperative diagnosis: Before and after the pandemic.

GIST: gastrointestinal stromal tumor