Trends in Hospital Outpatient Department Registrations and Admissions during COVID-19 Pandemic in a Super Speciality Hospital, Delhi, India

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Delhi, India’s capital, witnessed the first Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) case on February 10, 2020, and subsequently three waves of the pandemic due to which the government had to impose lockdown starting March 25. It led to a decrease in patients seeking health care services for non emergency problems. Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital (JSSH), a three hundred bedded autonomous institute under Delhi Government, also encountered a decrease in patient footfall. Aim: To identify the changes in trend in Outpatient Department (OPD) registrations and Inpatient Department (IPD) admissions during one year (January 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020) of COVID-19 pandemic in comparison to 2019 and also to analyse the collected data with the publicly available data on daily COVID-19 incidence in Delhi. Materials and Methods: A retrospective study was done by collecting data from the Janakpuri Super Speciality Hospital, Medical Record Department from 1st January 2019 to 31s December 2020, for daily OPD visits and IPD admissions. The collected data was analysed with the publicly available data on daily COVID-19 incidence in Delhi. Statistical analysis was performed using Microsoft Excel 2017. The non parametric exponential smoothening technique (dampening factor= 0.9) was applied over the dot plot graphs. Results: In 2020, compared to 2019, the daily OPD visits decreased by 37%. After an initial fall with March lockdown, there was a gradual increase in daily load. The OPD load peaked near middle of August 2020, The second big fall in OPD footfall occurred near second wave in September 2020, After that, OPD volume remained low till the 31st December 2020. Similarly, IPD admission volume peaked near the first wave in June 2020. The 2020 IPD admission volume also witnessed a massive decrease of 40.67% compared to 2019 and was maximum in gastroenterology admissions (65.63%). Conclusion: The study’s findings suggest that temporal associations between COVID-19 pandemic and hospital OPD and IPD admissions during 2020. The possibility of increased morbidity and mortality amongst non COVID-19 patients due to the unavailability of timely health care cannot be ruled out. The government should do capacity building to guide patients to identify the best doctor, clinic and hospital nearest to them in case of future pandemics.