The impact of COVID-19 related lockdown and restrictions on general surgery resident training program in India-outcome of a survey

Abstract

The global spread of the disease COVID-19 pandemic occurred due to novel virus corona 2019-nCoV, first time detected in China Wuhan city then spread throughout the world. In our country during 2020 march to up to starting of June, the government of India has put lockdown all over the country. Some restrictions were continued throughout the year and again has put lockdown in 2021 also. Again, in 2021 February last week second wave of COVID-19 pandemic has started and many states in the country has implemented lockdown as phase wise. COVID-19 lockdown has so much effect on surgery resident training program in India. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of the lockdown and COVID-19 pandemic restriction on general surgery residents training programs across India. It is an online based questionnaire survey using apps like Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram and telephonic services. Data from students was collected through social media who were responded to our questionnaire. Our survey showed that majority surgery trainees across the country felt that the COVID-19 lockdown adversely affected their learning, especially surgical training.