With routine healthcare services severely disrupted amid the pandemic, the global market for traditional wound management products is projected to reach a revised size of US$6. 6 billion by the year 2027, after recovering from -2. 1% drop in demand in 2020. Access to healthcare services by chronic wound patients remains disrupted as healthcare resources are repurposed and focused for the treatment of COVID-19 patients. With infections continuing to rise worldwide, healthcare systems are overburdened by the flood of COVID-19 patients requiring hospital care. Several countries are emptying hospitals beds occupied by non-corona virus patients before the pandemic to make space for the arrival of COVID-19 patients. In Hungary, over 69.2%, 75.6%, 62.4% and 42.1% of existing hospital beds were emptied to accommodate COVID-19 patients in the month January, February, March, and April 2020 respectively. Routine healthcare services are especially worst hit in countries with less abundant healthcare such as India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Brazil, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Congo and Uganda. Against the backdrop of large reallocation of healthcare personnel/facilities to COVID-19 response and management, there is a sizable shrinking of the provision of non-COVID healthcare services across the entire medical/healthcare spectrum. Wound care clinics are no exception and reduced visits to clinics; lack of access to timely care; and shift to homecare settings have reduced demand momentum for wound management products.

In the United States and other countries worldwide, physicians have been unable to see new patients as outpatient wound clinics remain closed. Shortage of appropriate PPE equipment is the single most important factor responsible for closure of clinics treating non-COVID patients. Given that traditional wound care products are used in treating low and medium severity wounds, the rescheduling of patients with low risk wounds has impacted the market significantly. Wound care hospitals are prioritizing service provision to only high risk patients such as those with necrotic tissue and those actively undergoing serial debridement; or patients being treated with CTP and compression with high drainage. Several hospitals are also utilizing dressings that will allow decreased intensity of wound care, which is resulting in a sharp decrease in the volume of clinical procedures. Homes are increasingly considered to be the safest environment with the lowest risk of COVID-19 exposure for wound patients requiring care. As telemedicine and home care storm into the spotlight, supplying wound dressings in single-dose packages will gain prominence. Single-dose packages help in avoiding confusion and prevent their improper use among patients learning to self-care for their wounds. ecommerce retailing platforms will grow in prominence and will temporarily supplant local brick and motor sources.

The post COVID-19 period will witness growth coming from much-needed innovations, given the unmet needs in self-administering wound care products. Easy to use injectable bandage is one such example of an innovation that will benefit home based wound management. Inspired Nan materials and Tissue Engineering Laboratory researchers at Texas A&M University developed an innovative injectable bandage that stops wound bleeding and promotes healing. The gelling agent kappa-carrageen an based bandage can be introduced into wounds with minimally invasive procedures. The injectable bandage solidifies after injection and promotes natural clotting. The researchers used kappa-carrageen an mixed with charged clay-based nanoparticles, to obtain an injectable gelatin with haemostatic ability. Platelets and plasma proteins form blood absorption on the hydro gel and initiate the blood clotting cascade.