A Descriptive Study on the Treatment Seeking Behaviour of Patients with Chronic Diseases During Covid-19 Pandemic in a Tertiary Care Institute of North-eastern Region of India

India has a double disease burden of chronic infectious and non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic renal diseases, etc. The Covid-19 pandemic is putting a huge pressure and a profound impact on healthcare systems worldwide. According to WHO rapid survey, 122 countries reported that NCD services are disrupted. To assess treatment seeking behavior of patients with chronic diseases during Covid-19 pandemic a cross-sectional study was conducted among 174 patients with chronic diseases by telephonic interview at NEIGRIHMS, a tertiary care institute in the capital city of the north-eastern state of Meghalaya, Shillong. Of the total patients, 33.3% did not come for regular health visits to the hospital. Characteristics like age (≥60 years), low income (≤15000 Rupee per month), education (illiteracy) and place of stay (outside local district) were significantly associated with irregular health visits of the patients. Education on preventive measures of Covid-19 and improving chronic illness care services by the primary level health institutions including availability of essential drugs may reduce the loss to follow up among patients. Telemedicine services in the primary level health care centers can be used for availability of follow-up services during emergency situations.