Challenges and Related Interventions Being Practiced by the Employees of a Tertiary Care Centre Amidst the Lockdown Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction The lockdown to curb COVID-19 pandemic has affected day-to-day life of the public. The people faced many challenges in their daily life and took various measures to overcome them. Objective To explore challenges being faced by the employees of tertiary care centre during the lockdown period due to COVID-19 pandemic and various interventions undertaken by them to overcome those issues. Methods A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted in the study. Purposive sampling technique was used to enrol 151 class III and IV employees of a tertiary care hospital. The data was collected using a questionnaire comprising of socio-demographic profile sheet and questions regarding health-related challenges, preventive practices and the effect of lockdown on basic life activities of the employees of tertiary care Institute during COVID-19 pandemic. Ethical clearance was obtained from the Institutional Ethics Committee and written informed consent was taken from each participant. Results During lockdown, there was an increase in food intake, weight, duration of physical activity, frequency of bathing and changing clothes, involvement in household chores and time spent with children. However, there was no significant change in the sleeping patterns and sexual activity of the participants. They faced various difficulties in medical consultation of non-covid issues, could not procure medicines and skipped vaccinations of their children. The findings also show that people practiced various measures such as herbal and home remedies increased their frequency and duration of hand-washing and sanitisation and started wearing personal protective equipment to some extent to prevent transmission of COVID-19 infection. Conclusion and Recommendations The imposition of lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 infection affected the basic lifestyle of people and changed their behaviours. The people faced many difficulties in accessing healthcare services.