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Correspondence
Impact of lockdown on rheumatology outpatient care in the age of COVID-19
  1. Benjamin Sachdev Manjit Singh,
  2. Seow Lin Chuah,
  3. Yaw Kiet Cheong,
  4. Sharifah Aishah Wan,
  5. Cheng Lay Teh
  1. Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia
  1. Correspondence to Dr Benjamin Sachdev Manjit Singh, Rheumatology Unit, Department of Medicine, Sarawak General Hospital, Kuching, Sarawak, Malaysia; benjaminsachdev{at}gmail.com

https://doi.org/10.1136/annrheumdis-2020-218484

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    We read with great interest the editorial written by McInnes1 who discussed regarding the role of the rheumatologist and the rapidly changing landscape in the practice of rheumatology brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)2 had also recently published several recommendations for the management of rheumatic and musculoskeletal diseases when local measures of social distancing are in effect. We were interested in the impact caused by local public health measures to control the pandemic on rheumatology outpatient care at our centre.

    Extraordinary measures have been advocated globally to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Malaysia’s first COVID-19 case was reported on the 25 January 20203 and cases spiked in March 2020 reaching the highest number in South-East Asia in early April. Malaysia instituted a lockdown from 18 March 2020 which was extended 9 June 2020 (a 12-week period) as a public health measure to curb the pandemic.4 5

    During the pandemic, our hospital was designated as a COVID-19 hybrid hospital tasked with taking in both COVID-19 and regular patients. Several hospital-wide strategies were implemented to contain the pandemic and decongest the hospital including rescheduling of non-urgent patient appointments, reducing non-essential laboratory and radiological investigations, the implementation of teleconsultation and referral of stable patients to primary healthcare facilities for continuation of …

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    Footnotes

    • Correction notice This article has been corrected since it published Online First. An acknowledgement statement has been added and references 4 and 8 have been updated.

    • Contributors All authors were involved in conception or design, or analysis and interpretation of data, or both. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient and public involvement Patients and/or the public were not involved in the design, or conduct, or reporting, or dissemination plans of this research.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.