Abstract

Objective: To analyze the precautionary measures that medical students and clinicians practiced during Eid-ul-Adha’ 2020.”
Material and Methods: An online cross-sectional survey was conducted on medical students and doctors/clinicians/faculty in Balochistan, where the questionnaire (10 items) was posted on google platforms after Eid-ul-Adha between 10th to 31st December’2020. Inclusion criteria consisted of first to third year medical students and clinicians whereas fourth and final year, house officers and postgraduate students were excluded. Pilot study demonstrated reliability of questionnaire Cronbach's alpha 0.624. SPSS version 23 was used for analysis.
Results: There were 65.1% (n=82/126) males and 34.9% (n=44/126) females, 58% medical students (n=73/126) while 42.1% (n=53/126) doctors. Participants who offered Eid Congregational Prayer in masjids were 74.4%, 18.3% prayed at home whereas 7.3% didn’t perform prayer at all; and 75.6% practice SOPs while 24.4% did not follow SOPs during prayer in Masjid. In family gatherings, 49% followed precautions whereas 16% avoided them. During the ritual livestock sacrifice, 42.7% participants followed all precautionary measures, 23.2% avoided touching their face and 21% wore facemasks. During meat distribution, 38% study participants practiced all precautionary measures, 22% washed their hands before and after meat distribution, 17.1% did not touch their face with unwashed hands and 7.3% wore facemasks only. No significant difference was found between medical students and doctors in practicing precautionary measures, except during meat distribution (p-0.009).
Conclusion: Medical students and doctors practiced precautionary measures well. However, statistically significant relation was found between medical students and doctors praying in masjids and maintaining a safe distance in Eid gatherings during this pandemic.

Key words: COVID-19, Eid-ul-Adha, Precautionary Measures, Medical Students, Doctors.