Orthopaedic Disorders Clinical Trial
Official title:
Experience of Workforce From Orthopaedic and Spine Center Ghurki Trust Hospital Pakistan During COVID-19
After the frightful outbreak in the city of Wuhan, China and its evidence of being
contagious, governments around the world particularly United States in an effort to stop the
transmission- imposed travel restrictions to and from China. Though it's a novel virus and
little is known about it, the spread was drastic across the world. In fact the spread was so
rapid that by end of February 2020, the number of new cases outside China had leveled up to
13 fold as compared to the number of cases in China. Moreover, the number of infected
countries with COVID-19 tripled. The first two reported cases in Pakistan were from Karachi
and Islamabad on 27 February 2020. These two cases presented with a recent travel history
from Iran. The current statistics showed the confirmed cases in Pakistan reached upto 284,121
till 9 August 2020.
During the lockdown period most of the public hospitals and trust closed their Outpatient
departments and started to deal with emergency cases only. However even in such situation
there are some trust hospitals worth mentioning who never closed their services and worked
day and night to entertain their patients by observing all the precautions and safety
measures. Ghurki trust teaching hospital is one of them. This hospital adopted a SMART
STRATEGY or SMART hospital lockdown.
Since 19th March 2020 till 13th July 2020, the period of lockdown, two thousand one hundred
and sixty surgeries were performed by the orthopaedic team of Ghurki hospital. The breakup of
surgeries during lockdown was as follows: 1514 cases of trauma, 173 procedures of spine, 51
for arthroplasty, 51 for arthroscopy, 21 for tumors and 350 miscellaneous. The team was
available 24 hours, 7 days a week under the supervisor of Professor Amer Aziz, to play their
part in these terrible circumstances.
After the frightful outbreak in the city of Wuhan, China and its evidence of being
contagious, governments around the world particularly United States in an effort to stop the
transmission- imposed travel restrictions to and from China. Though it's a novel virus and
little is known about it, the spread was drastic across the world. In fact the spread was so
rapid that by end of February 2020, the number of new cases outside China had levelled up to
13 fold as compared to the number of cases in China. Moreover, the number of infected
countries with COVID-19 tripled. The first two reported cases in Pakistan were from Karachi
and Islamabad on 27 February 2020. These two cases presented with a recent travel history
from Iran. The current statistics showed the confirmed cases in Pakistan reached upto 284,121
till 9 August 2020.
Regarding the Pakistan's government response to COVID-19, quick steps were taken to curtail
the transmission of virus as China is in northeast of Pakistan and also shares its borders
with Iran where the number of cases are increasing exceptionally. As an initial response
Pakistan closed its borders with China and implies strict methods at the Pakistan-Iran
border. Still, in the initial days of pandemic Pakistan lacked the diagnosis kits and relied
on China and Japan for testing purpose. However, later Pakistan was able to receive kits and
started testing samples.
Pakistan's federal government along with the Ministry of Health (Moh) initiated a plan known
as "National Action Plan for Corona Virus Disease Pakistan". The basic motive behind
developing this plan was to generate policies and methods to combat with the deadly virus
across Pakistan. MoH managed to deliver crucial supplies like masks, gloves and suits to the
doctors and paramedical staffs working at frontlines. A state of confusion existed at
different levels in health care system in Pakistan, particularly in Orthopaedic departments
of hospital where elective and emergency services were severely affected during the lockdown
period that started from 19 March 2020.
Orthopaedic and Spine Center Ghurki Trust Teaching Hospital Lahore:
During the lockdown period most of the public hospitals and trust closed their Outpatient
departments and started to deal with emergency cases only. Even the private hospitals were
reluctant to perform elective and emergency orthopaedic procedures. This attitude was may be
due to the information published from other countries on the post operative complications and
reduction of orthopaedic procedures during the period. The closure of orthopaedic health
services brings a great shock to poor people for whom trusts and foundations is the last hope
as they cannot afford the private setups for their health care facilities. However even in
such situation there are some trust hospitals worth mentioning who never closed their
services and worked day and night to entertain their patients by observing all the
precautions and safety measures. Ghurki trust teaching hospital is one of them. This hospital
adopted a SMART STRATEGY or SMART hospital lockdown. The orthopaedic department divided the
members into five teams performing a 1:5 rotations. Each team comprised of one professor, one
assistant professor, one senior registrar and ten trainee residents. Similarly the other
departments like anesthesia, paramedics, nurses and physiotherapists were also subdivided.
Out of two hundred staff, thirty were tested positive for COVID-19 but they all were managed
and returned to normal after home quarantine.
Orthopaedic Surgeries during COVID-19:
Since 19th March 2020 till 13th July 2020, the period of lockdown, two thousand one hundred
and sixty surgeries were performed by the orthopaedic team of Ghurki hospital. The breakup of
surgeries during lockdown was as follows: 1514 cases of trauma, 173 procedures of spine, 51
for arthroplasty, 51 for arthroscopy, 21 for tumors and 350 miscellaneous. The team was
available 24 hours, 7 days a week under the supervisor of Professor Amer Aziz, to play their
part in these terrible circumstances. The team started their day with recitation of Quranic
prayer which is translated as "In the name of Allah by whose name harm cannot be done by
anything in the earth or in heavens. He is All-Hearing, All-Seeing" (Tirmidhi, Hadith: 3388).
The smart approach utilized was that the patients were operated as soon as possible
preferably within first twenty four hours and discharged them early also one to two days post
op in most cases with complete education. All the patients were screened for COVID but
Polymerase Chain Reaction test (PCR) and Pulmonary High-Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT)
was not done in all the patients unless if they presented with suspicious history.
Fortunately, none of the patient tested positive pre operatively. Strict asepsis was observed
during the period.
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| Status | Clinical Trial | Phase | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completed |
NCT01989312 -
The Simultaneous Use of Supraclavicular and Distal Blocks
|
Phase 4 |