Alternative care seeking Behaviour among public hospital eye patients during strike

Objectives: To determine the pattern, determinants and effects of alternative care seeking behavior among public hospital eye patients during strike.
Methodology: This was part of an institution-based descriptive study in which adult patients whose eye care had ever been disrupted by hospital workers’ strike were randomly selected and interviewed. Using a pretested structured interviewer-administered questionnaire relevant data were obtained including patients’ demographics, information on various aspects of eye care service disruption, affectation of ocular condition, seeking of alternative care, type of care used, level of affectation of patients’ satisfaction and trust, and financial burden. A Microsoft Excel sheet was created and data analysed with IBM SPSS version 25. Frequencies and descriptive statistics were done, and a P-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.     
Result: There were 150 participants enrolled with a male/female ratio of 1.50. Their mean age was 48.97 ± 18.18 years. 38.7% of the respondents reported seeking for alternative care as follows: 43.1% used private eye clinic services; 32.8% resorted to self-medication while 24.1% had used traditional/ethnic eye medications (TEM). Participants’ level of education and employment/occupation status were significantly associated with choice of alternative eye care sought. The higher the educational attainment and employment status the more the preference for private eye clinic. Those without or with little formal education most frequently used TEM. The use of TEM was significantly associated with the most frequent worsening of eye condition. 
Conclusion: During strike one-third of public eye hospital patients will seek alternative care in private eye clinics, self-medication and TEM. These choices are related to their education and income, and carry the risk of worsening their eye.