2) Triaging and Decantment of Patients
A list of criteria was generated to identify non-urgent conditions and
all scheduled clinic appointments were screened two weeks prior.
Patients with non-urgent conditions were telephone-consulted and
rescheduled minimally six months later, with prescriptions written for
delivery. Follow-up for malignancies and immediate postoperative cases
was prioritized.
The department performs an average of 40 elective surgeries a week and
this number has halved since the outbreak. Only a single team of doctors
operates each week. Surgeries were allowed to proceed if they were of
the following nature: emergency or life-saving, suspected or known
malignancy and/or procedures not requiring admission. The last criterion
ensured that hospital occupancy was not affected and beds remained
available for COVID-19 admissions.