Dr Manal Tamr rarely knows what the next person walking into her consultation room at Sundi Primary Health Care Centre will need. One patient may arrive with a headache and fatigue. Another with a sore throat. Someone else may be worried about an irritated eye or several symptoms at once.

“That is the nature of primary health care,” says Dr Manal, a general practitioner at the centre. “People usually come because something does not feel right. Our first job is to listen, examine them and understand what they need.”

For many health concerns, that first assessment is enough to determine whether a person can be treated at the centre, needs follow-up or should be referred for further care.

Different symptoms, the same first step

When Mahmoud Al-Mawas came to the clinic in August, he had been experiencing general fatigue and headache. “I was tired and my head was hurting, but I did not know what was behind it,” he says. “You can wait and hope it passes, but sometimes you need someone to check you and tell you what to do.”

After examining Mahmoud, the health team provided treatment appropriate to his symptoms. For him, the value of the consultation was not only the medicine he received. “I came because I wanted to understand what was happening,” he says. “Once you have been examined, you know what your next step is.”