Utilization of primary health care during summer

OBJECTIVE: To determine the workload on primary health care center services, to recognize the patterns of utilization of primary health care center services and morbidity patterns among the summer visitors who attended primary health care centers in Asir region in 1998.

METHODS: A special form was designed to record demographic data, diagnosis and management. Ten percent of those forms were analyzed to study the patterns of morbidity and health service utilization. A special formula was used to calculate the size of the workload on the health services during the season.

RESULTS: The total number of patients who attended primary health care centers during the study period was 387,727. Twenty-five percent of them were summer visitors. The workload on the health services increased by 33%. Both sexes utilized the services equally. Most of the visitors were young, Saudis, and utilized curative services. Respiratory related problems represented 60% and digestive related problems represented 12%.

CONCLUSION: There was an excessive load on primary health care center services during the summer season. Re-organization, re-allocation of resources and provision of extra medical facilities in the Asir region are necessary to overcome this load.