The Center Caters for children aged up to 14 years, has successfully implemented a training system to ensure that emergency cases get faster and proper care.
“About 70 to 80 percent of our visitors do not need emergency care. They can be treated in any primary health care center. Such patients have been putting tremendous pressure on our facilities and keep them crowded throughout the year,” Daily The Peninsula wrote quoting Al Ansari
The center has a triaging system where every patient is screened by a trained nurse to identify the nature of the illness. Visitors are categorized based on this assessment.
“The most urgent cases will get immediate care while others will have to wait for their turn, that will be decided based on their condition. An emergency center can not stick to a first-come-first-served policy. So people should not complain if they are delayed by a new visitor who needs urgent attention,” said Al Ansari.
With a surge in the number of visitors during winter, the wait time for non-emergency cases has gone up to one hour to one-and-a-half hour, depending on the rush on the particular day.
Asked if there are plans to reduce the crowding as well as the wait time, Al Ansari said, “Being an emergency center, our focus in on providing quality care, rather than reducing wait time. The only way to address crowding is raising public awareness. Families should decide not to rush to the paediatric emergency for every minor ailment affecting their children.”