A clinic or outpatient clinic are originally small private or public health facility that provide
health care for ambulatory patients or clients in a community, in contrast to inpatients treated in a hospital. Some grow to be institutions as large as major hospitals, whilst retaining the name Clinic. General practice clinics are run by one or more
general practitioners or
practice managers.
Physiotherapy clinics are usually operated by physiotherapists and psychology clinics by
clinical psychologists, and so on for each health profession. Some clinics are operated in-house by employers, government organizations or hospitals and some clinical services are outsourced to private corporations, specialising in provision of health services. In
China, for example, owners of those clinics do not have formal medical education. Health care in
India,
China, Russia and Africa is provided to vast rural areas by mobile health clinics or roadside dispensaries, some of which integrate traditional health practices. In India these traditional clinics provide
ayurvedic medicine and
unani herbal medical practice. In each of these countries
traditional medicine tends to be an hereditary practice.
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