Recommendations and algorithm to deal with urological surgeries in the Middle East during COVID-19 Pandemic: Review article and regional expert opinion

Corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a fast spreading pandemic which has started in China, then spread worldwide with high infectious rate and significant minor mortality. The natural history of COVID19 is not yet fully understood as it mainly affects and spreads through the respiratory system but it may affect other systems. Furthermore, it is an overwhelming disease to the health system which mandates building new hospitals such as Nightingale in London and also emptying several tertiary hospitals in order to cope with the huge demands on the health system globally. Therefore, urology as a specialty become affected where hundreds of elective surgeries to be delayed. Thus, we think that we should have a regional guidance regarding how to deal with urological surgeries in the Middle East based on current international available data so we can provide safety to healthcare workers (HCW) but without scarifying patient’s health and priority. We have postulated an algorithm and set recommendations which can serve as guidance during COVID 19 pandemic in the Middle East.