Impact of Covid-19 on gastrointestinal cancer surgery: A National Survey.

Purpose: To understand the actual impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and frame the future strategies, we conducted a pan India survey to study the impact on the surgical management of gastrointestinal cancers.

Methods: A national multicentre survey in the form of a questionnaire from 16 tertiary care gastrointestinal oncology centres across India was conducted from January 2019 to June 2021 that was divided into a 15-month pre-Covid era and a similar period of active Covid pandemic era.

Results: There was significant disruption of services; 13 (81%) centres worked as dedicated Covid care centres and 43% reported suspension of essential care for more than 6 months.