Attitude and Behavior of People Towards Visiting the Hospital During the Pandemic

IntroductionVisiting the hospital is important as a part of check-up in avoiding the major risks of unknown and serious diseases irrespective of any pandemic. Our study aims to understand the attitude and behaviour of common people towards visiting the hospital during COVID-19 pandemic in two major hotspot states of India namely Maharashtra and Karnataka. MethodologyA cross-sectional study was conducted between July-august 2021 among the population of two states. A total of 636 respondents completed the survey and returned electronically. Data were analysed using suitable statistical tools to achieve the objective of the study. Results74.8% of the respondents were not ready to visit the hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic unless the symptoms were serious. On the other hand, 25.2% of the of respondents were willing to go to the hospitals. The top three reasons for the reduction in visits are fear of getting infected in the hospitals by COVID-19 patients (72.6%), fear of stepping out of home (31.1%) and fear of COVID-19 infection by the lab equipment (24.5%). ConclusionOverall the study revealed that there was a reduction in number of visits to the hospitals for common diseases in people after the pandemic started. But the people were still willing to go to the hospitals if they noticed any major symptoms or symptoms related to COVID-19. Our findings may be useful to develop strategies to address concerns in order to ensure that people dont get any serious illness because of the fear of COVID-19.