Impact of COVID-19 and Mitigation Plans on Essential Health Services: Institutional Experience of St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College

Abstract BackgroundHealth systems around the world are being challenged by on-going COVID-19 pandemic .The COVID-19 pandemic and associated response can have a significant downstream effect on access to routine health care services, and indirectly cause morbidity and mortality from causes other than the disease itself ,especially in resource-poor countries such Ethiopia. This study aimed to explore the impact of the pandemic on these service and measures taken to combat the effect.MethodsThe study was conducted at St. Paul’s hospital millennium medical college (SPHMMC). The study was conducted from December 15, 2020 to January 15, 2021 using comparative cross- sectional study design. We collected data on the number of clients getting different essential healthcare services from May to October 2019 (Pre COVID) and same period in 2020 (during COVID-19 pandemic) from patient registry book. The analysis was done with SPSS version 24 software.ResultOverall, the essential services of SPHMMC were affected by COVID-19 pandemic. The most affected service is inpatient admission that showed 73 % (2044 to 682) reduction from pre- COVID period and the least affected is maternal service, which only decrease by 13% (3671 to 3177). During the 6 months after COVID-19 pandemic, there is a progressive increment in number of clients getting essential health services.ConclusionThe establishment of a triple setup for fighting against COVID-19, which encompass; non COVID service, isolation centre and COVID-19 treatment centre played a vital role in preserving essential health services.