Neighborhood health centers work well as fever clinics

The city's neighborhood health centers have shouldered care for half the number of people with fevers, reducing the pressure on leading public hospitals, the Shanghai Health Commission said.

The grassroots facilities admitted 40,338 fever patients on Friday, accounting for 50.2 percent of the city's total, the latest data showed. The number of patients in city-level hospitals' fever clinics dropped from 58 percent to 18.7 percent of the city's service amount.

Shanghai opened 2,594 fever service rooms in all neighborhood health centers, sub-centers, service stations and village clinics from Monday.

The measure has taken effect quickly. The service quantity of fever patients in the neighborhood rose from the previous 5 percent of the city's total to half within four days. This has met patients' demands for health services and drug prescriptions, reducing the pressure on leading hospitals.

To better serve patients during the COVID-19 pandemic, the grassroots facilities have expanded services and prolonged opening hours.

All fever clinics at the neighborhood level offer services several days a week. Minhang District was the first to launch emergency service at fever clinics at night. All the 14 neighborhood health centers in Minhang prolong their fever service to the midnight from Monday to Friday and 10pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The neighborhood facilities also enhance staff allocation and preparation for fever clinics and send doctors in different departments to support fever clinics.

Doctors also make better use of fever medicines under current limited resources and promote education on scientific drug use.

Many neighborhood health centers unwrap the original packages of fever and cold medicines and repack them into smaller ones for three-day dosage with instruction on the new package.

Doctors also make use of traditional Chinese medicines for COVID-19 prevention and control.