COVID-19 Emergency: Faux Healthcare Service Causes Distress and Life Dissatisfaction

Background and Aims: In Bangladesh, a significant number of individuals experienced a faux coronavirus test, especially at the profit oriented private hospitals or clinics during the COVID-19 emergency. Therefore, the prime purpose of the study was to investigate the impact of healthcare service faux pas on the mental health of Bangladeshi people during the COVID-19 pandemic. Additionally, the current study even explored the changes in life satisfaction of Bangladeshi individuals due to the faux SARS-CoV-2 tests in the country. Moreover, the study also dealt with the satisfaction of the people on the healthcare service during the COVID-19 emergency in Bangladesh.

Study Design: The current research was conducted as a descriptive and bi-monthly cross-sectional study and used the snowball sampling technique to collect the survey data in Bangladesh.

Place and Duration of Study: This study was employed in Dhaka division and Comilla division of Bangladesh between June and July in 2020.

Methodology: In this study, we surveyed 393 Bangladeshi individuals from two divisions of the country. We measured mental & physical health (SF12), depression (PHQ2), anxiety (GAD2), distress (K6), life satisfaction and overall satisfaction on healthcare service. Survey data was analyzed on STATA platform to find the study findings.

Results: This research found that Bangladeshi people experienced lower levels of mental and physical health conditions with the mean (STD) values of 23.1 (6.9) and 37.2 (9.1) respectively. Among the study participants, female individuals (60.05%) were mostly dissatisfied with the COVID-19 emergency healthcare service and dealt with more severe mental and physical disorders than male persons (39.95%) in the country. In this perspective, the study explored a dramatic increase in the mental stress and steady decline in life satisfaction of Bangladeshi individuals due to the false COVID-19 test certificates. Therefore, most of them had to go through multiple coronavirus tests to confirm the infected status. Additionally, participants visited at private hospitals for SARS-CoV-2 emergency support had higher levels of distress and dissatisfaction on the private healthcare services. Finally, the study found literally poor life satisfaction among all participants.

Conclusion: The study found mental distress and life dissatisfaction caused by a private healthcare service faux pas in Bangladesh. So, this study suggests that a surge in the private healthcare service faux pas during or post coronavirus pandemic needs sustainable policy standards by the Government and nongovernment concerns. Fruitfully, the proper implementation of new policies especially for the private healthcare organizations is indeed essential to ensure a stress free healthy healthcare environment as well as higher life satisfaction for every individual in the country.