The COVID-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented devastating impact worldwide. Evidence on treatments and management strategies is emerging rapidly, but this has been difficult to examine systematically in a short space of time. Therefore, few guidelines have used formal evidence synthesis and GRADE approaches, particularly with relevance to low- and middle-income countries.
As at other institutions, a multidisciplinary expert group met regularly at the Christian Medical College Vellore to discuss emerging evidence and make locally relevant guidelines, whicih documented the studies considered. These were circulated informally throughout India, with recognition from experts and government health officials, reflecting the need for formalisation of such an effort.
Further refinement of the guideline development process, including a systematic approach to evidence summaries and consensus, and more accessible and clear dissemination, was felt to be the ideal way to build upon this initiative, and move towards widely relevant India-specific guidelines.