Impact of COVID 19 lockdown on emergency admissions at a large zonal hospital

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic along with the measure to control it like complete lockdown has affected the health-care delivery in multiple ways. Resources in the health setup were earmarked for COVID-19. All routine and nonurgent procedures were deferred. There was an overall decrease in the number of patients visiting the emergency department. However, in India, there was no major study conducted on emergency hospital admission at the time of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted in a zonal hospital as a before-and-after record-based observational study. The hospital admission data for all causes of emergency 2 months prior (i.e., from January 25, 2020, to March 24, 2020) and 2 months into the lockdown (March 25, 2020–May 24, 2020) were studied. The emergency admission during the last 2-year period in the same period was taken as a control for the study. Results: The number of emergencies reported during the year 2018, 2019 and 2020 in January 25 to March 24 were 92, 101, and 119 respectively and in March 25 to May 24 were 93, 107, and 82 respectively. There was no statistically significant difference among age, sex, and socioeconomic status of persons reported as emergencies during the studied period. There was a significant reduction by 31% in emergency hospital admissions two months before and two months after period of lockdown in the year 2020 and it varied as per subject specialty with highest reduction in emergency hospital admissions was found in orthopedic cases by 93% and no reduction in obstetric and newborn emergencies. Conclusion: The COVID-19 lockdown in India had a significant impact on the frequency as well as types of emergency admission to a large zonal hospital. The provisioning of hospital resources may need to be aligned with changing patient workload in view of COVID-19.