Healthcare Seeking Behaviour During the COVID-19 Outbreak www.discoveriesjournals.org/discoveries-reports 1 Original Article A Population Based Study on the Healthcare Seeking Behaviour During the COVID-19 Outbreak Abdul Rehman Arshad 1 , Imtiaz Bashir 1 , Ahmad Tariq 2 , Farhat Ijaz 1* , Rana Khurram Aftab 3 , Omair Farooq 3 1 CMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry (NUMS), Lahore, Pakistan 2 Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, Pakistan. 3 Akhtar Saeed Medical and Dental College, Lahore, Pakistan * Corresponding authors: Dr. Farhat Ijaz, MBBS, MPhil. Assistant Professor, Department of Physiology, CMH Lahore Medical College and Institute of Dentistry, Lahore, Pakistan. Email: farhat_khurram_rana@cmhlahore.edu.pk Submitted: Oct. 21, 2020; Revised: Nov. 23, 2020; Accepted: Nov. 25, 2020; Published: Dec 26, 2020; Citation: Arshad AR, Bashir I, Tariq A, Ijaz F, Aftab RK, Farooq O. A Population Based Study on the Healthcare Seeking Behaviour During the COVID-19 Outbreak. Discoveries Reports 2020, 3: e14. DOI: 10.15190/drep.2020.8 ABSTRACT Amidst a time when there is the global pandemic of COVID-19 and high levels of stress and anxiety among people, it was pertinent to study if people have modified their health-seeking behavior. A questionnaire-based cross-sectional study was performed in Lahore to assess the change in behaviors of people before and during the pandemic. The results show that the health seeking behavior of the people has changed during the pandemic, resulting in an increased trend of self-medication and a decreased number of people visiting the hospital for their ailments. People preferred private health providers over the government facilities. This might be due to the misinformation, panic, and uncertainties spread by the social media. Governmental health care providers should consider these aspects while addressing the polices related to the pandemic. Abbreviations Combined Military Hospital Lahore Medical College and institute of Dentistry (CMH LMD & IOD); Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS); National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS); Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19); World Health Organization (WHO); Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Keywords: COVID-19, Health Seeking Behavior, Pandemic, Coronavirus. INTRODUCTION Healthcare seeking behaviour is defined as any action undertaken by individuals who perceive themselves to have a health problem or to be ill, for the purpose of finding an appropriate remedy 1 . Amidst a time when there is the global pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), and high levels of stress and anxiety among people, it is pertinent that we study if people have modified their health-seeking behavior. As of the 15 th of November 2020, there are 55,116,072 active cases of coronavirus infections in the world. The World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 as a global pandemic on the 11 th of March 2020 2 . Since then, there have been multiple avenues of media advertising precautionary health measures in the light of public service messages. And while the incidence of hand- washing has been reported to increase in previous pandemics, such as with the 2009 H1N1 Influenza virus 3 , such public service messages have led to an increase in practice of precautionary measures by a much greater percentage during the COVID-19 pandemic, including Pakistan, with up to 88.1% of DISCOVERIES REPORTS 2020, 3: e14 DOI: 10.15190/drep.2020.8