We are living in a developing country with limited resources in the context of PCR testing, personal protective equipment, and negative pressure operating room availability; so facing a serious challenge for the continuation of surgical services especially in the context of anesthesia services and personnel safety during this COVID pandemic. As anesthesia provision is highly aerosol-generating thus predisposes both surgical and anesthesia teams to COVID. This demands a change in our anesthesia practice to provide a safe and comfortable atmosphere for the continuation of surgical services, as anesthesia is the backbone of surgery. We have developed this advisory for pediatric anesthetists especially relating to developing countries to guide them for providing safe anesthesia services keeping in mind the limited resources based on our practices and experiences gained during this pandemic along with reviewing national and international literature.
A sequence of pneumonia-causing diseases from the Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) appeared in Wuhan, Hubei, China in December 2019. The outbreak of COVID-19 spread quite rapidly. Just as we write this report, almost two and a half million verified cases were reported globally, and almost 180,000 people died.1 Experience from China reveals that COVID-19 outbreaks can be brought under control within 3 months, with highly efficient touch tracking and case isolation.2 Healthcare staff are at the forefront of treatment for COVID-19 cases and have a very large chance of exposure to the infection.3 Cuts in disposable gear and COVID-19 awareness are triggering infections in healthcare workers.4 As of February 11, 2020, China has contaminated more than 1,700 health-care workers. In Italy, 2026 (9 percent) of the COVID-19 incidents happened in healthcare professionals (as of March 15).5 But, 31 medical teams containing more than 42,000 nurses and doctors sent by the Hubei from other provinces did not have a reported infection. It indicates that sufficient information about the transmission of disease and the use of protective equipment and procedures to manage infections is necessary to avoid the spread of infection among health care staff.
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