The Access Of Oncological Patients To Medical Care Amid The Rigid Social Restriction Context Related To The Covid-19 Pandemic

The main objective of this study is to prove that the social restriction and isolation measures used in Campinas during the SARS-CoV-2 virus pandemic limited drastically the access of oncological patients to medical care for a long period of time in this city, being enough time to risk worsening the prognosis for these patients mainly through the delay of diagnosis and treatments. The methods for this research involved a collection of data from the medical records eletronic system of the Pontifical Catholic University of Campinas’s (PUCCAMP) hospital and ambulatory clinics about oncological patients admitted during the period that social restriction measures were at use in Campinas, analazying the variation on the numbers of neoplasm diagnosis, neoplasm related surgeries, and of neoplasm patient admissions in these institutions throughout this period. Between march and december of 2020, there was 13 diagnosis of neoplasm, 17 surgeries, and 1209 admissions. Throughout 2021, there was 31 diagnosis of neoplasm, 25 surgeries, and 2172 admissions. Throughout 2022, there was 82 diagnosis of neoplasm, 49 surgeries, and 3104 admissions. According to the results obtained, the numbers of diagnosis, surgeries and admissions for oncological patients increased as the years passed and, therefore, as the social restriction measures became slowly less rigid throughout these years, implying a relation of cause and effect between the high rigidity of social restriction norms and the loss of accessibility to medical care by oncological patients. Keywords: Neoplasm. Pandemic. Diagnosis. Admissions. Surgery