Medical Houses Open to Patients with Acute Respiratory Infection Symptoms

Luxembourg's Ministry of Health has announced that from Wednesday 18 March 2020, medical houses ("maisons médicales") will be taking in patients with symptoms of acute respiratory infection.

According to the ministry, the aim of this measure is to avoid overcrowding emergency departments and GP practices while containing the spread of coronavirus. The measure will also allow on-site access to a sampling capacity for the diagnosis of infections by personnel equipped with the required protective materials.

Consequently, Luxembourg's three drop-in medical houses will be open weekdays from 08:00 to 16:00. The objective of this new mode of operation for medical houses is to offer people suffering from acute respiratory infection a dedicated care circuit around three axes: reception and sorting of patients; medical consultation; and sampling.

Health Minister Paulette Lenert commented: "The establishment of this separate stream is part of the government's efforts to curb the spread of the virus. It is essential to save time in the face of the scale of this epidemic".

To ensure the proper functioning of medical houses, the public is asked to only go to these practices on the instructions of their doctor.

The three medical houses are located in Luxembourg City, Esch-sur-Alzette and Ettelbruck at the following addresses:

- 59 Rue Michel Welter, L-2730 Luxembourg
- 70 Rue Émile Mayrisch, L-4240 Esch-sur-Alzette
- 110 Avenue Lucien Salentiny, L-9080 Ettelbruck

Options to set up a similar medical structure in the east of the country are being analysed.