(Table 1)
Almost all the respondents (99.0%) were following one or the other
Covid-19 guidelines for healthcare professionals although there was no
unanimity among the participants about the source of those guidelines.
When asked about whether the regular ORL out-patient department (OPD)
should function during the Covid-19 pandemic, majority (69.2%)
responded in negative while 30.8% were in favour. Significantly
(p=0.005) higher percentage of doctors in private sector (42.9%) were
in favour of running the OPD during the lockdown period as compared to
those in government sector (16.7%) [Table 2] . While the
reason for public health specialists being not in favour of practice may
be that they receive a fixed salary whether practicing or not but on
analysis why the private sector are not in favour of regular OPD during
pandemic the reasons varied from having small clinic area (p=0.012) to
unavailability of in house Covid-19 testing (p=0.004) and treatment
facilities (p=0.001) [Table 3] . Greater number (75.0%) of
respondents were of the opinion that triage clinic outside the OPD
should be run even after the end of lock down.
While 61.1% respondents were using one or the other PPE, escalated cost
of running OPD due to these measures caused worry to two third (66.7%)
of the respondents even though in case of 69.9% of the participants,
hospitals were bearing the cost of PPE. Significantly (p=0.001) higher
number of private doctors (66.7%) feared about escalated cost of
running OPD due to safety measures compared to government doctors
(33.3%) [Table 2] . N95 masks (52.8%) followed by gloves
(50.9%) and face shield (37.0%) were respectively the most frequently
used PPE by the ORLs who participated in the survey.
On being queried about whether routine surgeries should be performed or
not during the Covid-19 pandemic, majority said no (80.8%) while 8.7%
said government should issue directions on the subject and the
difference between the government and private sector doctors was not
significant (p=0.765). High viral load in ENT region and fear of own or
staff getting infection was the most important reason (67.6%) for not
favouring routine surgeries during Covid-19 pandemic. A statistically
significant fear of escalated cost of working during Covid-19 pandemic
due to various safety measures was found in ORLs working in private
sector as compared to those in government sector
(p=0.001)[Table 2] . Majority of the doctors (71.3%) were
performing emergency procedures during the pandemic, and most of them
(57.4%) were using PPE during emergency procedures as a safeguard for
preventing infection to themselves. .
As healthcare providers, 73.1% of the ORLs perceived increased stress
during this pandemic. Significantly (p=0.017) higher proportion of
Professors/Associate professors/Consultants (31.8%) and junior
residents (30%) had high level of stress as compared to
Associate/Assistant professors/Junior consultants (18.5%). The
difference in stress levels among the government and the private sector
doctors was not significant (p=0.765) [Table 4] .