Grassroots clinics for fever patients are being opened in many places across China, especially in small towns and cities,  providing general medical services and treatment of patients with mild fever and consultation on medication. Photo: The Paper

Grassroots clinics for fever patients are being opened in many places across China, especially in small towns and cities, to enhance the capacity of the local medical system to deal with the epidemic. These changes are among the latest efforts by Chinese cities to cope with rising numbers of COVID-19 cases.

Many places across the country are operating consultation rooms located near neighborhoods, business districts and other public places that can receive fever patients and prescribe basic medicines. In fact, many of these clinics are converted from nucleic acid testing booths.

Many nucleic acid testing booths were made redundant after China scaled back mandatory testing. In addition to the consultation rooms, some have also been repurposed as vaccination rooms, according to the company that supplies the booths in Shenzhen.

Raoping County in South China's Guangdong Province has added a total of 520 fever clinics at health stations in towns and villages so that local residents can seek medical treatment in time if they develop symptoms, thereby alleviating the shortage of medical resources and cross-infection problems, according to local health authorities.

In addition, Fengxin County in Central China's Jiangxi Province has also optimized its epidemic prevention measures, including turning 60 public and private clinics in the county into consultation rooms for fever patients to provide services for local residents.

"Grassroots medical services have become the first line of defense to protect the safety of rural residents, and the construction of fever consultation rooms will provide strong medical protection for the first wave of infection peak," according to a statement posted on the official website of Sheyang County, East China's Jiangsu Province, where 17 fever clinics in local medical institutions have been put into operation as scheduled.

Facing an influx of fever patients in recent days, many Chinese cities have rushed to open more fever clinics and stock up on medicines. Guangzhou, South China's Guangdong Province, has increased its number of fever clinics in hospitals from 114 to 199, as experts estimate the city's COVID-19 outbreak will peak in early January.

A temporary fever clinic with four consultation rooms was earlier put into use at the Guang'an Gymnasium in Beijing's Xicheng District. It is equipped with a temporary pharmacy and medicine storehouse, providing sufficient antipyretic drugs and materials.

These clinics usually provide residents with services for eight hours a day, including general diagnosis and treatment of patients with mild fever and consultation on medication. Moreover, it also provides patients with a health consultation, medication guidance, antigen testing and other services related to COVID-19, and guides residents to do a good job of self-health monitoring and home quarantine.

Global Times