Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hospital Melaka, Melaka, Malaysia
  • 3 Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Universiti Sultan Zainal Abidin, Kuala Terengganu, Terengganu, Malaysia
  • 4 Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian, Kelantan, Malaysia
Malays J Med Sci, 2021 Jun;28(3):143-150.
PMID: 34285652 DOI: 10.21315/mjms2021.28.3.13

Abstract

COVID-19 has taken the world by storm: since the first few cases appeared in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and by June 2020 there were more than 10 million cases of COVID-19 cases worldwide. Malaysia had its first case in January 2020 and acted promptly by implementing several drastic measures to contain the disease. Subsequently, the Ministry of Health Malaysia has implemented guidelines and recommendations on the management of COVID-19. The Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (ORL-HNS) provides services for patients with ear, nose, throat, head and neck diseases and provides audiology, speech and language therapy, as well as undergraduate and postgraduate training. As the department's staff is heavily involved in examinations and interventions of upper aerodigestive tract problems, the challenges are distinctly different from other specialties. This article discusses how COVID-19 affected ORL-HNS services and what measures were taken in Hospital Melaka, Malaysia.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.