Abstract:

Objective: To explore the impact of COVID-19 prevention and control response on the medical services of tuberculosis designated hospitals in Hunan Province. Methods: Taking all tuberculosis designated hospitals in Hunan Province as survey subjects from Jan to Jun, 2021, questionnaire survey was conducted to investigate the situation of human resources and site requisition of designated tuberculosis hospitals (including outpatient service, ward, examination, radiology and pharmacy opening) after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020; the number of outpatient visits and the number of tuberculosis patients reported in 2019 and 2020 were compared; and the change of hospital infection control in 2020 were investigated. A total of 126 questionnaires were distributed, and 119 (94.44%, 119/126) valid questionnaires were retrieved. Results: Of the 114 (95.80%, 114/119) hospitals undertook the COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control tasks in 2020. The medical staff of 98 (82.35%, 98/119) hospitals, 1343 person-times, were requisitioned in total, and the median (quartile) person-times of requisitioned medical staff was 8 (2, 18). In 2020, the normal opening rates of tuberculosis clinic, ward, laboratory, radiology, and pharmacy were 48.74% (58/119), 27.44% (31/113), 88.24% (105/119), 89.92% (107/119), 94.12% (112/119), respectively. The outpatient visit rate among all populations in 2019 and 2020 were 254.18/100000 (169613 patients) and 222.48/100000 (148775 patients) respectively. In 2019 and 2020, the notification rate of pulmonary tuberculosis patients was 82.38/100000 (54968 patients); 76.55/100000 (51188 patients), and the notification rate of pulmonary tuberculosis patients decreased by 12.47% \left(\frac{(254.18-222.48)}{254.18}\times 100\mathrm{\%}\right) and 7.08% \left(\frac{(82.38-76.55)}{82.38}\times 100\mathrm{\%}\right), the differences were all statistically significant (χ²=1409.310, P<0.001; χ²=142.870, P<0.001). 99.16% (118/119) of hospitals strengthened infection control measures. Conclusion: The COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control squeezed the medical resources of the designated hospitals of tuberculosis in Hunan Province to varying degrees, resulting in the lack of medical service capacity and the decline of patient numbers. In order to ensure the prevention of COVID-19 epidemic and tuberculosis at the same time, it is necessary to strengthen the resource reserve of tuberculosis designated hospitals.

Key words: Coronavirus infections, Tuberculosis, Hospitals, special