Blood tests at home: how it works in Mauritius

Having blood taken used to mean a morning gone: the drive, the queue, the wait, and often the fasting done badly because breakfast was two hours later than planned. A good deal of it can now be done at the address instead, which for some people is a convenience and for others is the difference between the test happening and not happening at all.

Who it suits

• Routine checks, where the only obstacle is finding the time
• Chronic conditions being monitored on a schedule, month after month
• Older patients, for whom the journey is the hardest part of the test
• Anyone recovering from illness or surgery who should not be sitting in a waiting room
• Households where several people need testing at once

How it works

1. The call

You tell us what is needed and where you are. If a doctor has written a request, have it to hand. If nobody has, a consultation can establish what is worth testing rather than testing everything.

2. The appointment

We give you a time and tell you how to prepare. Some tests need fasting and some do not, and it is worth being told which yours is rather than guessing. Fasting badly is the most common reason a sample has to be repeated.

3. The visit

A clinician comes to the address, confirms who you are and what has been requested, takes the sample, and labels it there in front of you. It takes a few minutes. For most people the hardest part is the anticipation.

4. The laboratory

The sample goes to a laboratory for analysis. Common requests include blood sugar, a cholesterol profile, a full blood count, liver and kidney function, thyroid function, and screening for dengue and other infections.

5. The results

Results come back to you, and to your doctor if you want them to. If something in them needs explaining or acting on, that conversation can happen at the house too rather than starting the whole journey again.

Preparing for it

• Follow the fasting instruction exactly if you were given one
• Keep drinking water unless you were told otherwise, since it makes the draw easier
• Have any previous reports and current prescriptions to hand
• Say what medicines you take, including the ones you would not think to mention

Where we come from

Doctors and clinicians are dispatched from four points, Grand Baie, Flacq, Quatre Bornes and Mahébourg, covering 37 localities across the five regions of the island. Wherever you are, someone can be sent to you.

A blood test tells you what was true on the morning it was taken. It is not a diagnosis on its own, and a number slightly outside a printed range is very often nothing at all. What it is worth is a conversation with someone who knows the rest of your history.

If a test has been sitting on the to-do list for months because the morning never came free, this is the way it finally gets done.