Shanghai opens thousands of fever clinics in local communities as infections surge
Residents of Shuangta Street in Gusu District of Suzhou, neighboring Jiangsu Province, seek medical treatment at the fever clinic post on Shi Zi Street on Sunday.
A total of 2,594 community-based fever clinics are now open in Shanghai, the city's health authorities said on Monday, amid surging demand for treatment and medication.
Local residents suffering from fever don't need to travel across the city to big hospitals. They are encouraged to go to fever clinics near their homes for treatment, according to the Shanghai Health Commission.
The commission said in a statement that it will ensure supply of antipyretics for these clinics.
Surging infections caused long queues of patients outside local hospitals over the weekend.
People outside Shanghai Tongji Hospital queued up for at least three to four hours just for two capsules of ibuprofen, Li Bing, a doctor at the hospital's fever clinic, told Shanghai Television.
Infections have hit staff at pharmaceutical production lines and in delivery services too, worsening the shortages as people scramble to stock up on medicines.
The fever clinics will cover all local communities and try and ensure patients' demands are met, the commission added.
Elsewhere in China, authorities are rushing to turn nucleic acid testing booths or kiosks into fever clinics, aiming to provide easy access to medical services and relieve pressure on hospitals.
Suzhou and Wuxi in Jiangsu Province, Zaozhuang in Shandong Province, and Wuhu in Anhui Province, to name a few, have started converting COVID-19 testing sites into fever clinic posts.
Also on Monday, a mobile fever clinic on West Lake District's Liu Xia Street in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province, treated more than 30 residents in the morning, local news website City Link reported.
According to Jinan Times, a mobile clinic was also opened in Taierzhuang, Zaozhuang, on Sunday. It serves as both a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test site and a fever clinic.
In addition to providing services such as seeing a doctor and dispensing medications, the transformed COVID-19 testing booths in Wuhu, will also provide handy services for the public, such as offering wheelchairs and power banks, and selling COVID-19 related supplies at affordable prices, Wuhu News reported.
