The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Nephrology and Transplant Services and Clinical Training in India

Objectives: COVID-19 has emerged as a global pandemic with significant impacts on health care systems. The present study was conducted to analyze the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on nephrology and transplant services and clinical training at our center.

Materials And Methods: This observational study was conducted at the Institute of Kidney Disease and Research Centre (Ahmedabad, India). Our institute is one of the largest tertiary care centers of its kind in India with around 400 total inpatient beds for nephrology, urology, and transplant patients. In 2019, our center had annual outpatient and inpatient numbers of 132 181 and 7471, respectively, and conducted 412 renal transplant procedures. For this study, monthly data on number of outpatients, inpatients, and patients undergoing renal transplant, as well as various nonelective procedures, conducted in 2019 and 2020 were collected and analyzed. We investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on various non-COVID-19-related health care facilities and on clinical training and research activities at our institute.

Results: During the 2020 COVID-19 period, the number of outpatients and inpatients was greatly reduced compared with data from 2019. A similar decrease was seen in patients undergoing hemodialysis, renal transplant, and nonelective procedures at our center. The COVID-19 period also greatly affected clinical training of residents enrolled at our institute and research activities, as a result of focus on COVID-19 as a priority.

Conclusions: The effects of reduced numbers of outpatients and inpatients on workflow, as well as reduced numbers of renal transplants and nonelective procedures on the health of our patients, are unknown. Hence, a strategic scheme is needed to develop new health care models that can help manage the COVID-19 pandemic at present and any further waves arising in the future.