Will the guidelines and recommendations for surgery during COVID-19 pandemic still be valid if it becomes endemic?

ABSTRACT

The current COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all the healthcare sectors all over the world. The WHO and various other health organizations have been issuing recommendations and guidelines for surgical practice and patient management during the current pandemic. Some of these guidelines include triaging of the patients, prioritizing emergency surgery and delaying the elective surgical procedures till the COVID-19 pandemic is over. However, it seems that COVID-19 might become endemic in the community and current guidelines might not hold true. Surgical practices cannot remain suspended forever as it will have a deleterious effect on surgeons and patients. Therefore we need novel guidelines so that the surgeons can resume their general surgical practice as soon as possible.