Page 34 - IJSA, Vol. 4, No 2, 2021

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

Introduction
On December 31st, 2019, Wuhan Municipal Health oncology services in this hospital (both surgery and
Commission, China, reported a cluster of cases of outpatient departments), we compared the number of
pneumonia of unknown origin in Wuhan, Hubei province oncology surgeries and outpatient visits to the oncology
(Taylor & Johnson, 2020). The case was later identified department in our hospital during 2 periods, the first 5
as the novel strain of coronavirus. On January 5th, 2020, months early lockdown period and the same periods in
World Health Organization (WHO) published the first the previous year (2019).
disease outbreak on the new virus. Coronaviruses are a The aim of the study. To assess the impact of the social
large family of viruses that cause illnesses ranging from restriction on oncology services in this hospital.
the common cold to more severe disease. The new virus
was then named the “COVID-19 virus”. It may enter the Materials and Methods
host through the respiratory tract or mucosal surface We conducted a comparison study on the oncology
(such as conjunctiva). Symptoms usually begin with service between two periods: during the first 5 months of
nonspecific syndromes, including fever, dry cough, and the early COVID-19 pandemic and on the same period in
fatigue. Multiple systems may be involved including the previous year. We examined the number of oncology
respiratory, gastrointestinal, musculoskeletal, and surgeries and outpatient visits from March to July 2020
neurologic (Sharma et al., 2021; Wu et al., 2020). and compared it with the same month in the year 2019.
It was not until early March 2020 did WHO announce the The number of surgeries and outpatient visits was then
COVID-19 as a pandemic, the same month the COVID- analyzed separately. Data were obtained from the
19 first case was announced in Indonesia by the President medical records of the oncology surgeries and outpatient
of Indonesia (Setiawaty et al., 2020). The cases were then visits.
increased with the first local transmission occurred to a The mean surgeries and visits per month were then
man 59 years old on March 11th, 2020. The virus mainly calculated for each case to find out the proportion of
spread through direct means (droplet and human-to- surgeries and visits during the early pandemic period and
human transmission). It can infect other people via the same timeframe in the previous year. The mean
respiratory droplets when a patient coughs, sneezes, or difference was analyzed by comparing the mean of the
even talks within six feet area. In response to the case total case between two periods. All statistical data were
increase, the large-scale social restriction was then being analyzed using the independent sample t-test, performed
applied to essential activities only. Visits to healthcare using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences
facilities and hospital admission were limited to urgent (SPSS) for Windows version 25.0. The results of the
and emergency cases (Lotfi et al., 2020). difference between the number of oncology surgeries and
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed an unprecedented the number of outpatient visits between the two periods
threat to global healthcare delivery. To deal with infected were considered statistically significant if p<0.05.
patients, hospitals that have a high volume of patients
requiring critical care have redeployed staff and Results
converted operating rooms into intensive care units Table 1 shows the results for the total number of surgical
(Usman et al., 2021). Also, clinicians must balance oncology patients in both periods (2020 and 2019).
standard cancer therapies with measures designed to limit Table 1
the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, health care The Number of Oncology Surgeries
workers face many challenges, including shortage of Surgery
resources (e.g., personal protective equipment), Month Year number P value
excessive working hours, and psychological distress March 2019 164 <0.001
(Richards et al., 2020; Rocco et al., 2021). Patients in the 2020 59
current pandemic may prefer to postpone non-essential April 2019 107 <0.001
elective surgery due to the risk of contracting the disease 2020 20
while in the hospital. However, this fear may cause May 2019 129 <0.001
patients to delay seeking care for conditions that would 2020 28
otherwise be correctable or curable if presented earlier; June 2019 121 <0.001
loss of function and reduced life expectancy may be the 2020 32
result of delayed presentation and an untimely diagnosis July 2019 142 <0.001
(Soreide et al., 2020; Uimonen et al., 2021). 2020 64
Moewardi Hospital is one of the hospitals that was
appointed by the government to be a COVID-19 one of There was a significant decrease in the surgical oncology
regional hospital by June 2020. Other than COVID-19 patients during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the
cases, the hospital also provides care for other diseases previous year. The number was notably low in the month
which also provides care for oncology patients. Several after the first COVID-19 case was announced in
studies have reported the subsequent impact of hospital Indonesia (April 2020), which was only a total of 20
visits and admission because of the measurement during patients of oncology surgeries compared to 107 patients
pandemics (lockdown, social distancing, and restriction) in the same month the year before. The trend continued
(Lotfi et al., 2020; Reichardt et al., 2020; Setiawaty et al., for few months and the number started to rise in June
2020).To assess the impact of the social restriction on 2020 (Figure 1).

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