GP Clinics and referral system to be introduced to shorten queues at IGMH

In a bid to shorten queues at Indira Gandhi Memorial Hospital, General Practice (GP) clinics are to be set up, and a referral system introduced.

In a press conference held yesterday by Male' Group of Hospitals, CEO Ibrahim Haleem said that with the introduction of GP clinics, patients can consult medical officers at the clinic unless it is a medical emergency, and through a referral from them, consult specialists through making appointments via the clinic.

As there is no referral system in the Maldives, patients tend to go to the Emergency Room even for non-emergency conditions, and sometimes consult doctors other than the relevant specialists, Haleem said.

Deputy CEO of Dharumavantha Hospital Dr Shah Mahir said that next year, GP Clinics will be set up in four wards of Male'.

Mahir said that as the best specialists are at IGMH, most people wish to directly consult doctors at the hospital. However, as the aim is to allow the person most in need to be able to consult the specialist, arrangements were needed to set up the GP Clinics, he said.

The hospital is also working on bringing changes to its appointment system. Once this is implemented, patients will be given a time and date when they can see a specialist, instead of a queue number as is done now. They said that this would make arrangements more convenient even for those traveling from other islands to consult doctors at IGMH.

IGMH Medical Director Dr Aminath Zeyba Ahmed said that once the GP system is introduced, the number of people on waitlist would be decreased.

"For example, a woman is coming because she has pain in her stomach. However, she goes to see a gynaecologist, a women's illnesses specialist. In reality, she has a different ailment. Now she has to make another appointment all over again. Hence, this poses difficulties to the patient as well, not knowing the cause and having to consult a number of different doctors," she said.

Zeyba said that the waitlist in some departments of IGMH already exceed 1000 patients. If this is filtered, she believes that the number of patients who are actually in need of consulting that specialist would be fewer.

"In most countries across the world, specialists are consulted through a referral system. We are also working on implementing such a system. That will be convenient for the patient as well, we will also be able to provide guidance on which specialist to see, this will allow for faster appointments when consultations are necessary as well."

A GP Clinic is run at Hullhumale' Phase 2 even at present. Although services there were initially provided over a limited time, it is now available until 23:30 hrs. As patients who consult the GP Clinic continue to increase, the government has decided to set up an additional clinic in Hulhumale' as well.

Haleem said that the demand at the Hulhumale' Hospital had significantly decreased once the GP Clinic had been set up.