Surgery, social responsibility, and the COVID-19 pandemic

Surgery, social responsibility, and the COVID-19 pandemic

Blog Article

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) was declared a global pandemic by the World Health Organisation on March 11, 2020.A state of national emergency was announced for New Zealand on March here 25, 2020 and continues currently.As of May 30, 2020, COVID-19 has been confirmed in 213 countries with over 6,000,000 cases and 350,000 deaths worldwide.

It has overwhelmed healthcare systems in many major world cities, leading to non-urgent elective surgery being suspended due to lack of beds or staff.During Level 4 Lockdown in New Zealand all non-urgent elective surgery, endoscopy, and outpatient clinics were cancelled to protect our resources and patients from potentially being exposed in a gtech brush bar high-risk environment; emergency and urgent surgery continued, and urgent outpatient consultations were conducted remotely.How did it feel as a surgeon watching this pandemic unfold? At first it was hard to assimilate.

Were we overreacting? Did COVID-19 really have the potential to cause devastation?.