Ophthalmologists Face ‘Grim Sight’ Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic

Ophthalmologists Face ‘Grim Sight’ Amid the Coronavirus Pandemic by Sam McCommon

It’s no secret that the coronavirus pandemic has affected every single sector of the economy, and mostly for the worse. This includes the medical field — and ophthalmology. While hospitals and other clinics are feeling overwhelmed, ophthalmologists are feeling a different sort of pinch.

To discuss the effects of the coronavirus on ophthalmic clinical practice, we spoke with Dr. Sudhir Singh from Rajasthan, India, and Dr. William Trattler, from Miami, Florida.

COVID-19’s Impact on Ophthalmic Business

All over the world, the pandemic has had a major impact on businesses, with customers and patients opting to stay away from clinics and all elective surgeries cancelled. and three optometry practices to just a few doctors, seeing only urgent and emergency patients. We have halted all elective surgery. Those (doctors) seeing patients are wearing PPE,” he shared. “It has been a dramatic shift in our practice in just a week, but something that we needed to do to try to keep as many people home as possible to limit the spread of COVID-19.”

In India, it’s no different. “The coronavirus has impacted business very badly in India also,” shared Dr. Singh. “Elective surgeries were suspended as of two weeks ago and will remain suspended until April 15, 2020, as India is under lockdown. Only emergency services are open in eye hospitals.”

Dr. Singh also pointed out that expenses have not dropped. Doctors still have plenty of bills to pay. “There is no business, but expenses like staff salaries, house taxes/rents, electricity bills, every month installments (EMI), annual maintenance contract (AMC) fees and other expenses are on as usual,” he said.

Understanding Patients’ Behavior

Of course, people everywhere are anxious and scared — and many are wary of even leaving the house, much less venturing out for treatment.

Dr. Trattler confirmed this sentiment among his patients. “Patients are concerned, and even if we were to allow non-urgent patients to come for their visit — most, if not all, would prefer staying at home right now.”

The anxiety is universal. “Patients are concerned about falling ill due to corona infections,” said Dr. Singh. “They are following the measures taken by our government, like cooperating in our three-week

national lockdown by staying at home and practicing social distancing and good hygiene.”

COVID-19’s Toll on the Ophthalmic Industry

Imagining the world after the coronavirus pandemic is like trying to guess what’s in a snow globe just after it’s been shaken. Some time will need to pass before the picture becomes clearer. What is clear now, however, is that there will most certainly be longterm effects from the pandemic over the coming months and years.

“The foremost effect is on the country’s economy,” said Dr. Singh. “It is going to be affected very badly. It will have a cascading effect on the industry, employment, salaries and patients’ paying capacity. So a patient may change their health priorities in the form of delaying elective procedures, and going for economical procedures rather than expensive procedures.”

Dr. Trattler also shared his uncertainty: “It is so hard to know at this time,” he said. “I am hopeful things will get back to normal once a therapy is confirmed, or the crisis ends. I am unsure if this will be weeks or months. My main concern is that even when there is news that the crisis is over, there will still be patients who are concerned and not willing to go out.”

The future of the economy will play a huge role in the future of the ophthalmic industry, as well as all others. But in this industry, they’ll affect those who have committed the most financially. In Dr. Singh’s words: “These (economic) factors will affect those who have invested in expensive technologies and big eye hospital setups more.“

It wasn’t all roses in Dr. Singh’s neck of the woods before the virus spread to India, either. “The industry was already suffering from the worldwide economic slowdown and all businesses were facing various problems. The coronavirus pandemic is a terrible blow to an already sick industry,” he said.

A lot will change in the next several months, and especially in the near future. Dr. Singh does hold out cautious optimism for the future. “The Indian government has handled the situation quite well and taken all stringent measures, such as putting our 1.3 billion population under national lockdown. We have suspended all modes of international, national, state and city passenger transportation to contain the corona pandemic,” he noted.

He continued: “Despite all this, the next three weeks are going to be very crucial for India. The impact on the Indian economy will be decided by how this coronavirus pandemic is going to affect the Indian population. So far, there has been a fear of a further slowdown in the industry but there is no panic. Each and every sector is following the directions and initiatives taken by our government.”

A Silver Lining to the Coronavirus Crisis

Despite the dread and gloom that has filled the news, a silver lining remains to this cloud. For many, there’s been a re-evaluation of priorities — as well as more time to spend with those closest to them.

“This coronavirus pandemic will teach many positive lessons to each individual, family, society and nation,” said Dr. Singh. “It will change the perceptions of all aforementioned. The individuals will re-think about the priorities regarding personal life, family life and professional life, and will adjust time spent on each judiciously. They will also learn to differentiate between minimum basic life requirements and luxuries. They will also learn to accept the things they can’t change, and they will have the courage to change the things they can. Finally, families will learn to give quality time to each other,” he shared.

Dr. Trattler echoed Dr. Singh’s views on family. “The one positive aspect of this situation has been more family time,” he observed. “People are connecting with friends, and most are spending more time than ever with their families. So, there is often a silver lining — and hopefully spending time with family can help reduce stress levels,” he concluded.

Contributing Doctors

Dr. Sudhir Singh is a world-renowned ophthalmologist. He completed his

MBBS and SMS, M. S. Ophthalmology from Medical College Jaipur and he was trained in pediatric ophthalmology and strabismus by Orbis International. Dr. Singh has been an invited speaker and performed live surgeries at various national and international conferences. He has intratunnel phacofracture (MSICS technique), SquintMaster software and many other innovations to his credit and more than 30 national and international publications to his name. Dr. Singh is an ophthalmologist, a medical writer, a reviewer of national and international journals and an instruction course evaluator AIOS. He also is a computer programmer and has designed and developed ophthalmology software and websites. Dr. Singh is currently the senior consultant and head of the department at JW Global Hospital Research Centre, Mount Abu.

drsudhirsingh@gmail.com

Dr. William B. Trattler is a refractive, corneal and cataract eye surgeon at the Center For Excellence In Eye Care in Miami, Florida, USA. He performs a wide variety of cataract and refractive surgeries, including

PRK; all laser LASIK; no injection, suture-less cataract surgery; as well as laser cataract surgery. He has been an investigator for next-generation technologies (like the Tetraflex accommodating intraocular lens) and procedures like corneal collagen crosslinking (CXL). His involvement in the FDA-approval study for CXL led to its approval in 2016. In addition to his private practice, Dr. Trattler is on the Volunteer Faculty at the Florida International University Wertheim College of Medicine, as well as the University of Miami’s Bascom Palmer Eye Institute. He is board certified by the American Board of Ophthalmology and has been an author of several articles and abstracts. In 2016, Dr. Trattler received the Catalyst Award in Advancing Diversity in Leadership from the Ophthalmic World Leaders (OWL), an association of interdisciplinary ophthalmic professionals dedicated to driving innovation and patient care by advancing diversity in leadership.

wtrattler@gmail.com

Editor’s Note:

A version of this article was first published online at cakemagazine.org — where we continue to publish digital content.