Impact of COVID-19 on Elective Surgery: HMIMV Rabat Experience between 15/03 and 15/06 (2018-2019-2020)

Abstract

In Morocco, the Ministry of Health announces the registration of the first confirmed case of the new Coronavirus, by the Institut Pasteur in Morocco, during the evening of Monday March 02, 2020, at a Moroccan national residing in Italy, Morocco has declared a state of health emergency and confinement as of Friday March 20 at 6 p.m., in order to contain the spread of Covid-19. Aims: The study aimed to study the impact of COVID-19 on general surgical practice during three months compared to previous years and the future implications of the pandemic. Methods: Observational descriptive study being carried out in the central operating room of the military hospital in Rabat, evaluating the impact of Covid-19 on the planned surgery by thus comparing the activity of the unit during the three months of confinement March April May between 2018, 2019 and 2020. Results: The total number of surgeries has decreased to 497 in 12 weeks compared to 2073 at 2018 and 1900 at 2019. Cancer surgery has seen a decrease of 40% compared to the previous years, this reduction mainly concerns neurosurgery; ENT, and stomatology as for other specialties the number was almost the same. Benign surgery has seen a decrease of 70% compared to the previous years; all surgery combined has seen a reduction in the number of patients; this reduction is mainly due to the socio-demographic factor, the difficulty of traveling due to confinement.