Medical workers wearing protective equipment work at a hospital for COVID-19 patients in Goyang, north of Seoul, on Feb. 10, 2021. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, April 15 (Korea Bizwire) — The number of South Korean patients who felt anxiety about the risk of being infected with diseases during hospital visits marked a sharp increase last year, primarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The percentage of patients who felt anxiety about infection within hospitals stood at 15.6 percent among those who used medical services in the first half of last year, more than twice as high as the 6.2 percent reported a year ago. according to a report by the state-run Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs.
By type of medical services, 15.1 percent felt such anxiety about outpatient services and 18.7 percent about inpatient services. In other words, long-stay inpatients felt a stronger sense of anxiety.
Female patients (16.7 percent) felt a stronger sense of anxiety compared to male patients (14.2 percent).
By age, the patients aged from 15 to 19 (19.5 percent) showed the strongest sense of anxiety among all age groups.
By type of medical institutions, visitors to dental clinics (19.3 percent), where keeping one’s mask on is impossible, felt the strongest sense of anxiety.
The overall use of medical services, including out-patient and in-patient services, declined last year.
The share of those who used such medical services more than once in the first half of last year stood at 59.1 percent, down 9.8 percentage points from 68.9 percent a year ago.
J. S. Shin (js_shin@koreabizwire.com)
