PROPOSAL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A GUIDELINE IN MAINTAINING QUALITY CANCER CARE DURING AND POST-COVID-19 IN AN UPPER MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRY WITH UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE

Teoh, Soo-Peng; Bustamam, Ros Suzanna; Mustapha, Feisul Idzwan; Yip, Cheng-Har; Saad, Marniza; Somasundaram, Saunthari; Megat Ramli, Puteri Norliza; Nik Farid, Nik Daliana; Bhoo-Pathy, Nirmala

The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems worldwide, creating severe disruptions of prevention and treatment services for non-communicable diseases such as cancer as healthcare resources are being streamlined for prevention and control of COVID-19. During periods of high community transmission, the public hospitals in Malaysia, an upper middle-income country, have been forced to scale down elective surgeries, prioritize cancer treatments based on treatment benefits, and postpone non-emergency imaging procedures. These inevitably led to disruptions in cancer care delivery within the public health care system. We therefore plan to undertake a series of in-depth interviews with Malaysian healthcare providers and cancer patients to explore the facilitators and barriers in cancer care delivery amid the pandemic. The insights from this qualitative study will be used in a subsequent phase to co-design a guideline to maintain the delivery of quality cancer care in Malaysia via a three-round Delphi survey with a broad range of cancer stakeholders. The resulting guideline is not only expected to ensure the continuity of delivery of high-quality cancer care during the ongoing pandemic in the nation, but also to be adapted during unforeseen crises in the future.