Patient Denialism for COVID19 Pose Difficulty for Treating Physicians

Objective: As patients refusal has been a major issue in diagnosing the disease, we carried out this study to determine the magnitude of the refusal or denial of suspected COVID 19 cases. Methods: All patients seen with COVID 19 symptoms in medical out doors and emergency in Bahria International Hospital, Lahore in two weeks period from April 15, 2020 to April 30, 2020 were included in study. COVID 19 symptoms were ascertained on WHO guidelines labelling patients as COVID 19 suspected through laboratory tests. Depending upon results individual consultation with each patient was arranged to convince them to carry out nasopharyngeal swab for SARS Co-V-2 PCR. Some patients refused despite counselling for follow up regarding symptoms and advised tests. The public fear was the main barrier for the suspected cases to get tested. Each patient who refused PCR test was labelled as in denial. Results: Of the 40 cases diagnosed as suspected COVID 19. 21 refused to get tested. Majority (15) were male. Fever with chills was common among all with majority presented with shortness of breath (43%) followed by diarrhea (33%) and chest pain (9%). Conclusion: Patients who remain in denial pose a great threat to society as by spreading the virus or deteriorating themselves. An effective campaign on government level should be run to overcome the fear which has made this infection a social stigma to help contain this pandemic in a resource scarce country like Pakistan. Keywords: Coronavirus denial, COVID-19 denial, COVID in Pakistan, Public reaction to COVID 19 How to cite: Pervaiz R., Rana A.M., Qayyum A.M., Munawar A., Tariq S., Lashari A.A. Patient denialism for COVID19 pose difficulty for treating Physicians. Esculapio 2021;17(02):183-186.