Impact of Corona Virus on the Health Care Services in Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Introduction: Several studies have been examining the connection between coronavirus and the healthcare services of a country. Saudi Arabia is one of the nations, which faced the severe impact of the medical condition during peak period. Specifically, there were effects on the healthcare service delivery of chronic diseases because of the shift in attention to the pandemic. This study aims at establishing the effect of coronavirus on the follow-up, control, screening, vaccination and quaternary preventions indicators of quality healthcare. Methods: The survey was planned for 300 participants but will use only 220 respondents because of various reasons. Besides, the purposive approach is the method of determining the participants of this study. On the other hand, the quantitative research will use an online questionnaire to collect data. The analysis of data will be a descriptive evaluation using Chi-square tests. Results: The majority of these respondents (56.9%, n=125) have stated that the quality of healthcare services reduced drastically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Close to 73.2% (n=171) have agreed that follow-up of chronic diseases reduced. Only 34% of the participants insisted insist that control of chronic conditions did not improve during the pandemic, 74.5% (n=164) of the participants have argued that screening reduced when they visited health facilities. Further, 85.5% (n=188) of the respondents noted that the level of vaccination reduced during the pandemic. And, that as much as 83.6% (n=184) participants have experienced a high level of worry during the COVID-19 pandemic. Conclusion: The findings of the study show that COVID-19 had impacts on all quality healthcare indicators. These impacts varied depending on the effect on patients. There will be a need for future studies to establish the implications of coronavirus on healthcare services.