The situation with the rapid tests in pharmacies is manageable, while from next week the results will be registered electronically, said to KYPE, the President of the Pancyprian Pharmaceutical Association Eleni Piera.
He pointed out that for the past five months, pharmacies have been conducting rapid tests on the public, a service provided to pharmacies by the Ministry of Health to work with clinical laboratories and the free state testing program.
To date, Ms. Pierra said, this service has been successful. Approximately 2/3 of the pharmacies that performed rapid tests responded, ie 370 pharmacies.
You understand, he continued, that with the cessation of free rapid tests by the Ministry, more weight fell on the shoulders of pharmacies.
Queues, he noted, do not exist. "Queues were formed on the first day, which unfortunately happened to be Sunday, and only the two-day pharmacies were working. "On the contrary, on Monday, when the pharmacies opened, even half of them because the rest are on leave, they managed to manage the situation very well," he added.
Electronic registration of results
Ms. Piera said that until now the pharmacies used the old procedure, issuing excerpts of results, which the citizen used for home use.
"Now we have received a letter from the Ministry of Health and it is possible for pharmacies to now have an electronic connection with a platform of the University of Cyprus and electronic registration of results, to give the citizen the ease to use the pharmacy result for a safe pass or even and a European digital certificate ", he noted.
There is a transitional period now, he continued, where we asked the pharmacies to express interest in being included in the list of pharmacies, which want to give the result electronically and this list will be sent to the Ministry on Thursday.
"It simply came to our notice then. While pharmacies are currently licensed, 270 pharmacies have already been registered to provide electronic results. "Now I hope that next week the pharmacies will definitely register the results electronically", he said.
Asked if there is specialized staff for performing rapid tests, Ms. Pierra said that "the most specialized staff is the pharmacist himself as a health worker. Beyond that, if it seems that he will need help, he should use either part of his staff or student pharmacists, who do internships and possibly on weekends, if there is a great demand, we have asked to be informed about the people who performed the tests in the free program. of the Ministry, even if there is interest in staffing pharmacies ".
Ms. Pierra pointed out that the neighborhood pharmacy is the most accessible place for citizens, from which they can get any health services, focusing mainly on health prevention issues and is something that is applied in most European countries. where there is a need for mass control.
Pharmacists are calling for involvement in seasonal flu vaccinations
The president of the Pharmaceutical Association said that they would like pharmacists to be involved in seasonal flu vaccinations.
"In two months there will be this need, possibly the vaccination of the third dose for COVID will occur and we would not like to see waiting lists again. "We say we are ready to help with seasonal flu vaccinations."
He noted that pharmacists have already done practical and theoretical training so that they can offer this seasonal flu vaccination service at the neighborhood pharmacy.