With the swine flu pandemic forcing several city hospitals to be on their toes, other sections such as the surgery department, particularly elective surgery, have been taking a hit for a while now.

After the lull, hospitals are once again bracing for their busy operation schedules.

Parag Sancheti, chairman and medical director, Sancheti Instutite for Orthopaedic and Rehabilitation, who is also a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, said, “Almost 60 per cent of our elective operations were postponed. Most of our patients are from outside Pune. Thus, they were quite apprehensive to come to the city as the swine flu scare was at its peak. However, now the situation is improving and many patients have started renewing their appointments for surgeries.”

Sancheti said elective surgeries like joint replacement surgeries, hernia and cataract do not come under emergency category, so much depends on the patients’ convenience.

“There was a drop of around 60 per cent in the joint replacement surgery, which is generally an elective one. Now the situation has improved,” he said.

“Even for trauma incidents as well, people preferred local treatments therefore causing a dip in referral cases,” Sancheti added.

The situation at Jehangir Hospital was no different as they faced cancellation of surgeries owing to the swine flu scare.

A hospital official said that many elective surgeries were cancelled as people were afraid of entering the hospital premises. It was a common notion that hospitals are the most infected places and should be avoided.

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