key: cord-0064811-clie1son authors: Mukhopadhyay, Keshab; Singh, Ritesh; Ahmed, Shah Newaz title: Understanding the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on economy and health care – The dip in Sensex in tandem with the dwindled patient attendance in hospital date: 2020-12-31 journal: Indian J Med Sci DOI: 10.25259/ijms_105_2020 sha: b6f219a63102a7817ffa73d3964bb6fe565a5905 doc_id: 64811 cord_uid: clie1son nan The pandemic has inflicted a huge blow to the economy and health care of all affected nations. The paper tries to show the impact of the COVID-19 disease on the economy of India as gauged by the stock market and the outpatient department (OPD) attendance of a teaching hospital of the state of West Bengal. The purpose of the present study is to see whether the panic of the disease as determined by low patient attendance has any relationship with the economy of the nation taking BSE indices as surrogate marker of Indian economy. At the behest of the Central Government of India, a single-day voluntary public curfew was self-implemented by the citizens of the country on March 22, 2020. During the same period, similar measures were taken at state and regional levels by the respective administration. Schools were closed and mass gatherings were prohibited. A nationwide lockdown of 3 weeks was imposed by the Union Government of India from March 24, 2020, with the objective of containing the spread of the virus. This lockdown restricted the movement of the entire population of the country. All modes of transport were stopped throughout the country and all non-essential services were closed. Citizens were instructed to remain indoors, maintain social distancing with fellow citizens during unavoidable interaction, and use protective naso-oral masks to prevent viral transmission. Sensex which is the benchmark index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) is a very sensitive and prompt indicator of macroeconomics. In simple words, it is the real-time cumulative wealth of the 30 enlisted blue chip companies. Despite being vulnerable to rapid fluctuations due to unpredictable human behavior during any crisis, Sensex is a surrogate for industrial growth and economic stability. It has been seen that acute changes in Sensex reflect the effect of ongoing global or local phenomenon. College of Medicine and JNM Hospital (COMJNMH) is the tertiary care teaching hospital located in the Kalyani subdivision of the district Nadia of the sate West Bengal. It runs undergraduate and postgraduate medical courses in modern medicine since 2010. Being a state-run hospital, it has a very busy and crowded OPD and bed occupancy is almost cent percent. Patient not only comes from Kalyani but also many individuals from neighboring towns and villages seek medical care from the hospital. Majority of the patients avail the public transport to come to the hospital. For the study, we took the following data of BSE Sensex of all working days of the month of March 2020: Daily open, high, low, and close value. We took the daily attendance of the following OPDs of the COMJNMH separately for males and females for all days of March 2020 when OPDs were open: General Medicine, General Surgery, Chest, EYE, ENT, Dental, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, OBG, Psychiatry, and Dermatology. The data were entered into MS Excel and analysis and graphs were made in the Excel only. The COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the world. The transportation has been stopped to enhance lockdown. People can go out for emergency purpose only. This has affected the Indian economy in a big way. Since emergence of the pandemic of COVID-19, there has been huge fall in the economy of all affected nations. More than 2 lakhs companies have become bankrupt in China itself due to the pandemic. The World Bank has forecasted that the GDP growth in the financial year 2021 is expected to range from 1.5 to 2.8% for India. The functioning of hospitals has become haywire. The state governments have converted many hospitals to the COVID hospitals dedicated to the patients suffering from COVID. The governments are also discouraging the people to visit OPDs for minor ailments. People have also become aware of the chance of catching infection while visiting a crowded OPD of a government hospital. Moreover, the unavailability of public transport prevents the patients to attend OPDs. The SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, and the nationwide lockdown have put a massive stress on the economy of India and OPD attendance of the hospitals. The union government along with state governments must come with economy booster package for the distressed industries and take some concrete steps to win back the confidence of common people to overcome this huge humanitarian crisis. The study was conducted for a very short period to introspect the effect of COVID-19 incursion into India on its economy and health care. In a rapidly adapting world in the COVID era, the repercussions of the pandemic are completely unpredictable and need to be continuously monitored. However, by the time, this article will be in print, as per statistical projections, the number of cases would have increased multifold, while Sensex with proactive administrative interventions (in the form of stimulus packages) will tend to regain its lost points. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the lacunae of our system in dealing with a crisis of such a massive scale. The rebels of the pandemic have penetrated all spheres of life, and Sensex and health-seeking behavior were no exceptions. Amidst the crisis, we hope that the collective strength of the united human effort will soon surmount the ravaging pandemic and the world will bounce back to normalcy. Patient's consent not required as patients identity is not disclosed or compromised. Nil. There are no conflicts of interest. New SARS-like virus in China triggers alarm Early transmission dynamics in Wuhan, China, of novel coronavirusinfected pneumonia WHO Director-General's Remarks at the Media Briefing on 2019-nCoV WHO Declares Coronavirus Outbreak A Global Health Emergency. United States: NPR; 2020 WHO Director-General's Opening Remarks at the Media Briefing on COVID-19 COVID-19) Situation Dashboard Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India Evaluation and Treatment Coronavirus (COVID-19) Clinical course and risk factors for mortality of adult inpatients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: A retrospective cohort study