Impact of COVID 19 outbreak on gastrointestinal practices in Bangladesh

Background and Aim: Deadly coronavirus declared as pandemic in March 2020 by WHO, squeezing all the health facilities into a narrow passage. COVID 19 outbreak has severely affected endoscopy practices throughout the world. We conducted the first national survey among gastroenterologists of Bangladesh to assess the impact of COVID 19 outbreak on gastrointestinal practices. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted through self-administered online questionnaire (SurveyMonkey). To collect data, 151 practicing gastroenterologists across Bangladesh were contacted through e-mail with the questionnaire link from 6th July to 27th July. To assess the impact of COVID 19 outbreak in Bangladesh (7th March), along with others, information on gastrointestinal practices (inpatients, outpatients, endoscopy, and colonoscopy procedures) at hospitals were collected. Data were analyzed descriptively, while Mann-Whitney test was used to find the significance of difference of GI services. Results: About half of the respondents were in the age group of 40-50 years, and 47% were working as assistant professor. The respondents followed the British Society of Gastroenterology guideline (25%), local guideline (25%), and other guidelines (25%). 47% had to close their private chambers, and 11.3% provided online or over telephone consultations. The median of weekly hospital admissions (from 50 to 10, p = 0.00), outpatients services (from 160 to 30, p = 0.00), endoscopies (from 50 to 3.5, p = 0.00), and colonoscopies (from 13 to 0, p = 0.00) decreased significantly after COVID 19 outbreak. About 10% of gastroenterologists were infected with COVID 19, and majorities (60%) of them were treated in home isolation. Conclusion: This study showed that there is significant reduction of endoscopy practices occur due to COVID 19 outbreak both in public and private settings. Gastroenterologists are more vulnerable to COVID 19 infections. Gastroenterologists should follow single best guideline rather than using multiple guideline haphazardly.