ID-5184 Wonca Abstracts supplement A-K 13-10-23 - Flipbook - Page 77
WONCA 2023 Supplement 1: WONCA 2023 abstracts (A–K)
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Job losses and financial hardship: Effect of COVID-19
lockdown on private healthcare in Sousse Tunisia
Dr Waad Benbelgacem1, Sihem Ben Fredj1,2, Nawel Zammit1,2, Rim Ghannem1,2, Amani Maatouk1,
Sirine Ghribi1, Jihen Maatoug1,2, Hassen Ghannem1,2, Imed Harrabi1,2
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Farhat Hached Hospital, Epidemiology Department, ‘LR19SP03’, 4000, Sousse, Tunisia, 2University
of Sousse, Faculty of Medicine of Sousse, 4000, Sousse, Tunisia
Background
International healthcare facilities are facing catastrophic financial challenges related to the COVID-19
pandemic. Our study aimed to assess the impact that COVID-19 had during the first lockdown on
healthcare workers (HCWs): financial effects and job losses.
Methods
A cross-sectional study was conducted among HCWs working in private clinics in Sousse, from
September 2020 to November 2020. The calculated sample size was 454 employees. In collaboration
with the Group of Occupational Medicine of Sousse (GOMS), convenience sampling was conducted to
include five private clinics and GOMS. We used SPSS 20 software for statistical analysis.
Results
Of a total of 543 participants, 23% (n = 112) were labourers, while almost half 45.5% (n = 247) were
paramedical staff, 13.4% (n = 73) were managers (administrative, doctors, pharmacists) and 9.6%
(n = 52) were administrative staff. Among the participants, 31.5% (n = 171) thought they could lose
the support of their company if they were infected by the coronavirus; 32.8% (n = 178) were afraid of
losing their job because of the pandemic; 58.4% (n = 317) expressed that they felt threatened with a
reduction in salary; and 20.3% (n = 110) lost their salaries because of the health confinement, 12%
(n = 65) reported that their wages decreased while 87.6% (n = 458) maintained the same wages.
On the other hand, 5.2% (n = 28) revealed that they have other financial resources. The most affected
employees by this loss of salary are the paramedics (58.7%; n = 61), followed by labourers (13.5%;
n = 14; P = 0.096). Similarly, for salary reduction, paramedics were on top (16.5%; n = 40), followed
by labourers (10.1%; n = 11; P = 0.088).
Conclusion
The lockdown in response to the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in sizeable job losses and job stress.
It seems that those effects are selective to certain vulnerable groups. Moreover, to this day families are
suffering the consequences of the COVID-19 hard period.
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