Early Report on the Impact of COVID-19 Outbreak in Neurosurgical Practice Among Members of the Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies.
José Antonio Soriano Sánchez, Tito Arcadio Perilla Cepeda, Marcelo Zenteno, Alvaro Campero, Claudio Yampolsky, Mauro Loyo Varela, Manuel Eduardo Soto García, José Alberto Israel Romero Rangel
Author Information
José Antonio Soriano Sánchez: Spine Clinic and Neurosurgery Department, The American-British Cowdray Medical Center IAP, Mexico City, Mexico. Electronic address: neurojass1@hotmail.com.
Tito Arcadio Perilla Cepeda: Spine Surgery and Neurosurgery Department, University Children's Hospital of San José, Bogota, Colombia.
Marcelo Zenteno: Neurosurgery Department, San Juan De Dios University Hospital, Tarija, Bolivia.
Alvaro Campero: Neurosurgery Department, The Padilla Hospital of Tucuman, Tucuman, Argentina.
Claudio Yampolsky: Neurosurgery Department, Italian Hospital of Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Mauro Loyo Varela: Neurosurgery Department, The American-British Cowdray Medical Center IAP, Mexico City, Mexico.
Manuel Eduardo Soto García: Spine Clinic and Neurosurgery Department, The American-British Cowdray Medical Center IAP, Mexico City, Mexico.
José Alberto Israel Romero Rangel: Spine Clinic and Neurosurgery Department, The American-British Cowdray Medical Center IAP, Mexico City, Mexico.
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has caused severe economic consequences by local governmental measures to contain the outbreak. We provide insight on the impact that health care restriction has made on neurosurgical activity in Latin Iberoamerica. METHODS: We performed an internet-based survey among presidents and members of the societies of the Latin American Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (FLANC). We blindly analyzed information regarding local conditions and their impact on neurosurgical praxis using SPSS software. RESULTS: Information came from 21 countries. Sixteen society presidents reported having suspended regular activities and deferring local scheduled congresses, 14 reported mandatory isolation by government, and 4 instituted a telemedicine project. Four-hundred eighty-six colleagues, mean age 49 years, reported a mean 79% reduction in their neurosurgical praxis. Seventy-six percent of neurosurgeons have savings to self-support for 3-6 months if restrictions are long lasting. CONCLUSIONS: Stopping activities among societies of the FLANC, together with a drop of 79% of neurosurgical praxis, adds to deficits in provider's protection equipment and increasing demand for attention in the health care systems, representing a huge financial risk to their sustainability. Neurosurgeons should be involved in local policies to protect health and economy. Telemedicine represents an excellent solution, avoiding another pandemic of severe diseases across all-specialties as nonessential care can turn essential if left untreated. Financial support and ethics code review is needed to battle this new disease, designated the occupational disease of the decade, that continues to scrag the health care system. Times of crisis are times of great opportunities for humanity to evolve.
