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अमूर्त

RESTARTING ENDOSCOPY SERVICES IN PAKISTAN IN COVID ERA: THE WAY FORWARD

Dr Shoukat Ali

The emergence of SARS-COVID2 has completely reshaped the way we go about our daily business. Apart from other services, this has also impacted healthcare services and the way they are delivered. As endoscopy is an Aerosol generating procedure(AGP) with high risk of transmission, multiple endoscopy societies at the peak of the pandemic published guidelines on prioritizing of endoscopy services according to the urgency, highlighting the clinical indications which could be deferred until a more comprehensive plan is put out to safely perform endoscopy procedures or the infection rates drop down. We give an example of how our unit in a low Human development Index country, worked through the peak of pandemic providing service to patients in a safe manner which can be continued forward until the pandemic runs its course.