Asim M, Alkadi M, Hamad A, Othman M, Abuhelaiqa E, Fituri O, El-Madhoun I, Al-Malki H. Restructuring nephrology services to combat COVID-19 pandemic: Report from a Middle Eastern country. World J Nephrol 2020; 9(2): 9-17 [PMID: 33312898 DOI: 10.5527/wjn.v9.i2.9]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Muhammad Asim, BSc, FRCP, MBBS, Associate Professor, Nephrology Division, Department of Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Al-Rayan Street, Doha 3050, Qatar. masim@hamad.qa
Research Domain of This Article
Urology & Nephrology
Article-Type of This Article
Opinion Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Nephrol. Nov 29, 2020; 9(2): 9-17 Published online Nov 29, 2020. doi: 10.5527/wjn.v9.i2.9
Restructuring nephrology services to combat COVID-19 pandemic: Report from a Middle Eastern country
Muhammad Asim, Mohamad Alkadi, Abdullah Hamad, Muftah Othman, Essa Abuhelaiqa, Omar Fituri, Ihab El-Madhoun, Hassan Al-Malki
Muhammad Asim, Mohamad Alkadi, Abdullah Hamad, Muftah Othman, Essa Abuhelaiqa, Omar Fituri, Ihab El-Madhoun, Hassan Al-Malki, Nephrology Division, Department of Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha 3050, Qatar
Author contributions: Asim M conceived the presented idea, structured the manuscript, and designed the figures; All authors were involved in acquisition of data, drafting the manuscript and revising it critically for important intellectual content.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest in relation to this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Muhammad Asim, BSc, FRCP, MBBS, Associate Professor, Nephrology Division, Department of Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Al-Rayan Street, Doha 3050, Qatar. masim@hamad.qa
Received: July 23, 2020 Peer-review started: July 23, 2020 First decision: October 21, 2020 Revised: October 26, 2020 Accepted: November 4, 2020 Article in press: November 4, 2020 Published online: November 29, 2020
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 has spread across the world and has been classified as a pandemic. It has overwhelmed the healthcare systems. Specifically, it has overstretched the intensive care units and renal replacement therapy services in many countries. In this paper, we discuss the reconfiguration of nephrology services in the State of Qatar during the current pandemic. We highlight the key strategies that have been implemented to ensure that renal replacement therapy capacity is not constrained in either the intensive care or ambulatory setting. Some innovative approaches for the safe delivery of ambulatory care to dialysis and kidney transplant patients are also discussed.
Core Tip: Although the impact of the pandemic and the healthcare models differ across countries, pandemic preparedness planning is vital to improve the effectiveness of a country’s response to the pandemic. Renal replacement therapy is a lifesaving treatment, and it is imperative that healthcare systems invest in technical infrastructure, staff, and supplies to provide efficient critical care nephrology services in the setting of a pandemic.
