Background: The COVID-19 pandemic, originating in China in December 2019, spread throughout the world like wildfire in a matter of months. With the health-care resources being reallocated toward the management of the patients found to be suffering from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection, the routine health-care services in all walks of medicine have faced the fire.
Aim and Objectives: This study was undertaken with the aim to compute the brunt suffered by the everyday services at the dermatology department of a tertiary care hospital at the behest of the pandemic.
Materials and Methods: This was an observational study carried out retrospectively, wherein the hospital records of the patients visiting the outpatient, procedural, and inpatient dermatology department at a tertiary care center in North India were analyzed from June 2019 to May 2021.
Results: A significant decrease of 51.33%, 75.53%, and 58.42% was found in the number of patients visiting the outpatient, procedural, and inpatient dermatology department, respectively, in June 2020–May 2021 as compared to June 2019–May 2020.
Conclusions: Our study reveals that the regular services of the dermatology department were severely affected by the pandemic. We feel that it is safe to say that this observation holds true for the routine services offered by all the departments all over the world. Learning and adapting to the changing patterns of patient care needs and the redistribution of health-care resources is of paramount importance as the end of this pandemic is not yet visible in the foreseeable future and also to be ready for any other such calamities that the world might face in the upcoming times.
Key words: COVID-19; Dermatology; Minor Procedures; Outpatient Department; Pandemic
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