Patients hiding Covid symptoms to avoid surgery postponements

The Dutch Association of Anesthesiology noticed an increasingly common trend of patients hiding the fact that they have coronavirus symptoms, so that their regular treatments or surgery won't get postponed. This is a worrying development that puts both patient and healthcare workers at risk, the association said on Wednesday.

"It is quite understandable that patients who wait a long time for an operation or other treatment will do everything they can to make it happen," Caroline van der Marel of the association said. "However, it is a danger for the patient as well as for the healthcare providers and other patients if possible Covid-19 symptoms are not reported."

Patients with Covid-19 are at higher risk of complications from surgery, the association said. Hiding symptoms also puts the healthcare workers who treat you at risk of infection.

"At the moment there are serious staff shortages in healthcare. The more risk healthcare providers run, the greater the absenteeism due to illness becomes and shortages increase. This means that the failure to report symptoms by patients and their visitors is also a major risk for maintaining non-Covid care," Van der Marel said.

The association advised testing all patients for Covid-19 before they undergo surgery.