The impact of novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on emergency and essential surgical care in Gedeo and Sidama zone hospitals: An institutional-based multicenter cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 was initially detected in China's Wuhan, the capital of Hubei Province, in December 2019, and has since spread throughout the world, including Ethiopia. Long-term epidemics will overwhelm the capacity of hospitals and the health system as a whole, with dire consequences for the developing world's damaged health systems. Focusing on COVID-19-related activities while continuing to provide essential services such as emergency and essential surgical care is critical not only to maintaining public trust in the health system but also to reducing morbidity and mortality from other illnesses. The goal of this study was to see how COVID-19 affected essential and emergency surgical care in Gedeo and Sidama zone hospitals. METHOD: ology: A cross-sectional study was carried out in ten (10) hospitals in the Gedeo and Sidama zone. The information was gathered with the help of the world health organization (WHO) situational analysis tool for determining emergency and essential surgical care (EESC) capability. Infrastructure, human resources, interventions, and EESC equipment and supplies were used to assess the hospitals' capacity. RESULT: 54.3% of the 35 fundamental therapies indicated in the instrument were available before COVID-19 at all sites, while 25.2 percent were available after the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a sharing of resources for treatment centers, such as a scarcity of oxygen and anesthesia machines, and emergency surgery was postponed. Before admission, the average distance traveled was 58 km. CONCLUSION: The COVID-19 pandemic, as well as existing disparities in infrastructure, human resources, service provision, and essential equipment and supplies, reveal significant gaps in hospitals' capacity to provide emergency and essential surgical services and effectively address the growing surgical burden of disease and injury in Gedeo and Sidama zone primary, general, and referral hospitals.