Abstract

This study uncovers the disruptions in healthcare services of three distinct time stamps on individual healthcare services during COVID-19. Descriptive analysis was followed to understand various patterns in healthcare service disruptions. Logistic regression and Chi-square statistics were also followed to examine associations among three explanatory variables; age, sex and area of residency. Findings show, preventive routine healthcare, heart disease and lack of money were the most prominent issues in individual healthcare. Female (OR: 0.91, 95% CI: 0.87-0.94) and age group 26 to 35 (OR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80-0.98) significantly sought for healthcare urgency in all time periods. Suburban people required more medical attention for all the timelines (OR: 0.83, 95% CI: 0.80-0.87) and (OR: 0.88, 95% CI: 0.81-0.95) correspondingly. Geographically all the healthcare related descriptive variables were highly quantified in South African regions. The identification of required healthcare requirements and possible reasons for interruption can help to devise more effective mechanisms to address these two global health crisis issues during the period of chaos or any future pandemic.

Keywords: Healthcare; Individual healthcare service; Disruptions; COVID-19; Prominent issues