Effect of Covid-19 Pandemic on the Management of Medical Emergencies at the Yaounde Emergency Centre

Background: The current coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has put the world into an unprecedented global crisis. Health systems have been faced with an enormous challenge to provide the necessary care for this vast burden of patients. As a result, emergency and scheduled care for non-COVID patients has been affected. This study evaluates the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of medical emergencies at the Yaoundé Emergency Centre.

Methodology: This was an analytical cross-sectional study with an exhaustive sampling, from patients from March to September 2019 and 2020. The analysis was done in Epi-info version 7.2.2.6 and Microsoft Excel 2016.

Results: Data were collected from 5496 patients in medical emergencies. COVID-19 pandemic has eventually decrease medical emergencies [aOR=0.91, 95%CI=0.76-0.91, P=<0,0001] but didn’t impact significantly the rate of mortality [aOR=1.06, 95%CI =0.71-1.57, P=0,79]. Cardiovascular Diseases were the first cause of morbidity.

Conclusion: It emerges from this study that the COVID-19 pandemic has decreased the attendance in medical emergencies but didn’t affect significantly the rate of mortality.