Insights and pearls of healthcare systems management of COVID-19 in Asia and its relevance to Asian transplant services

Asia is now the new epicenter of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, yet mortality rates remain among the lowest in the world. This review paper summarizes key findings from the literature in Asia on how healthcare systems, including transplant programs, have developed innovative solutions and countermeasures to mitigate the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. A review of literature using PubMed was performed, where only publications addressing COVID-19 and healthcare systems from Asia were selected. Whenever possible, the impact of COVID-19 and the countermeasure responses from transplant healthcare systems were highlighted in these publications. Transplantation in Asia has been affected to varying degrees, although many Asian countries have continued transplantation while adopting defenses that have resulted in a low COVID-19 incidence rate among transplant recipients. These defenses include protected pathways for patients, surveillance through protocol screening for COVID-19, team and infrastructure segregation, adoption of telemedicine, and patient outreach and education. Transplant healthcare systems in Asia have been effective at varying levels of success during the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic continues, transplant healthcare systems must develop operational frameworks to sustain transplant activity in the new normal.