Battling COVID-19: Institut Kanser Negara COVID-19 Task Force Strategies

Introduction Even today, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) continues to profoundly impact healthcare systems worldwide. This is especially significant in cancer care, where patients are not only more susceptible to being infected and developing complications from COVID-19, 1,2 but also face the risk of disease progression should treatment pathways be disrupted. Being the national oncology referral centre, Institut Kanser Negara (IKN) developed its own multidisciplinary task force in curbing the spread of COVID-19, which this study aims to describe.

Methodology A retrospective descriptive study design was used to report strategies and impact of the COVID-19 task force in IKN from March to May 2020.

Results There was a partial disruption of clinical services as many healthcare workers (HCWs) were quarantined due to four positive COVID-19 cases among IKN HCWs. In spite of this unprecedented situation, patient care was not compromised as all available resources were fully utilized and temporary assistance was received from the Department of Radiotherapy and Oncology, Hospital Kuala Lumpur to ensure the continuity of services. Figure 1 depicts the strategies implemented in IKN in line with the Movement Control Order (MCO) phases in Malaysia.

Discussion / Conclusion To date, there is no staff-to-patient transmission documented in IKN, which proved the effectiveness of strategies implemented through the task force. SARS-CoV-2 is a highly infectious pathogen which led to overwhelming consequences globally. With continuous awareness, stringent infection control protocols as well as new normal practices, we hope to ensure a safe environment in IKN without compromising patient care.