Spain Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, has announced that the government will regulate the price of antigen tests as it buys a total of 344,000 doses of Pfizer’s antiviral and oral drug this January, which reduces the possibility of hospitalisation and death “by 88%.”
The General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges has said that it “applauds and values positively” the government’s decision to regulate the prices which is a measure that was requested by this group at the end of December, to facilitate equitable access throughout Spain, through it’s network of 22,137 pharmacies.
“The decision, announced on Monday, will help to end a situation that we have repeatedly denounced and of which pharmacists have been victims, due to excessive price increases and tensions in the market “.
“Pharmacies are health establishments and tests are health products which help with the management of the pandemic,” they point out, adding that dispensing through a pharmacy guarantees the monitoring of dispensing with the registration and notification of positive cases. Primary Care and help manage the pandemic, as is already the case in Asturias, Aragon, Cantabria, Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Galicia, La Rioja, Murcia, Navarra and the Basque Country.
In addition, seven of them are included in the statistics that are sent daily to the Ministry of Health: Aragon, Asturias, Cantabria, Catalonia, Galicia, Navarra and the Basque Country. A function that from the Collegiate Pharmaceutical Organization urges that it be extended to all the autonomies.
“Pharmacies are performing public health functions, helping to relieve pressure on Primary Care centers and generating knowledge to facilitate real-time decision-making for health authorities,” they point out. And, they conclude, reiterating their vocation of service with society, “as it has demonstrated from minute one of the pandemic, along with the rest of the professionals and resources of the National Health System.”
