The impact of the current crisis on patient attendance at Gynecology Clinic of Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Teaching Hospital – Yakkala

Abstract

The sudden inflation of the country followed by the Covid-19 pandemic has affected almost all areas of the human life and it has been a burden for women seeking medical assistance for various diseases. The prevalence of gynecological disorders including subfertility, polycystic ovarian syndrome, fibroid and menstrual problems like endometriosis, irregular menstruation, amenorrhea have been increased in the present society and which is reflected by increased attendance for the Gynecology clinic of Gampaha Wickramarachchi Ayurveda Teaching Hospital - Yakkala (GWATH). The distinctive changes of the dietary and lifestyle patterns along with environmental factors could be considered as primary elements triggering these ailments. Apart from those causes, current economic and pandemic situation in the country have negatively affected not only for physical but also for psychological health of women. The main objective of this study was to identify the impact of economic crisis followed by Covid-19 pandemic on the prevalence of the gynecological disorders. Data was collected from the patients’ record book of Gynecology clinic, GWATH from January 2018 to July 2022. Comparing the patients’ attendance on each diagnosis which was taken as a percentage with respect to the total patient count in 2018, prevalence was decided and depending on that the impact of the crisis situation was inquired. Mean values (MV) of the patient count in each year was considered to compare the total attendance of the patients. The calculated MV of the total patient count in each year from January 2018 to July 2022 (2018MV-177.5, 2019MV-152.1, 2020MV-61.5, 2021MV-40.7 and 2022MV until July-58.0) showed that the attendance of patients to the clinic has clearly been decreased compared with pre-crisis in 2018. Furthermore, it was an obvious finding that the prevalence of disease conditions like endometriosis (2018-15.8% and 2020-6.1%) and polycystic ovarian syndrome (2018-21.3% and 2020-9.4%) has been decreased. On the other hand, the prevalence of female subfertility (2018-5.7% and 2020-25.2%), irregular menstruation (2018-6.7% and 2020-14.7%) and male subfertility (2018-4.9% and 2020-7.0%) has noticeably increased even though the total attendance of the patients has been decreased. By the increased prevalence of the patient count for subfertility and irregular menstruation, it can be assumed that the crisis situation has impacted on the psychological health of the patients where increased stress can be considered as a major factor for increased incidence of those conditions. In addition, it is also concluded that insufficiency and higher cost of the western medicines during the crisis situation, people have opted for seeking Ayurveda medicines.