Dr. Rajendra Sahoo, Consultant Pain Management, KIMS published a paper on ‘Impact of COVID-19 on Pain Practices among Indian Pain Physicians’. The paper is the result of a national-level survey conducted by Dr. Sahoo and his team after approval of the Indian Society for the Study of Pain, which is the Indian chapter of IASP (International Association for the Study of Pain). The survey was conducted in the month of June 2020.
The results show that the pain practices across all types of pain clinics (academic and private) were hampered as the efforts were to contain the spread of the virus. In the beginning of the pandemic, there was limited data on treatment approach, steroid use, interventional procedures and opioids prescription. The survey has aptly reflected the concerns and dilemmas of the practicing pain specialists across India. Another major concern was continuation of care, continued opioid prescription like morphine for severe cancer related pain. It was overwhelming that many pain physicians found Telemedicine a useful tool for patient consultation.