>>>ANSA/Towards service pharmacies, yes from 9 out of 10 Italians

(by Silvia Serafini) Home delivery of medicines for vulnerable people; distribution of medicines and medical supplies on behalf of the ASL; test for measuring cholesterol, blood sugar and other values; booking desk for visits and tests. But also: screening for the prevention of hypertension and of diabetes; possibility of choosing the doctor of general medicine and pediatrician; presence of nurses for medications and vaccines for those over 12 years of age. These are the services that Italians would like to find in pharmacies, with 9 out of 10 citizens in favor of expanding benefits available in these facilities. This is indicated by a survey by Censis, which found that among Italians the concept of the pharmacy as prevails local health care facility, under agreement with the National Health Service and which is part of the service public (53.6%), although not many are well informed about the Pharmacy services testing underway (only the 31.1% are aware of it). "The pharmacy is becoming an important garrison of the territorial medicine, especially thanks to its peculiar characteristics of accessibility and proximity", has Ketty Vaccaro, Head of Biomedical Research and Health, was found of Censis, who spoke at the conference to present the relationship. In fact, pharmacies are present throughout the country national territory (for 90% of the interviewees there is always a nearby and open pharmacy) and it is widely recognized support given by these exercises to the most fragile (92.2%) and the their important contribution during the pandemic (90%). "The pharmacy of the future will be less and less like a shop and increasingly similar to a health facility, a meeting point between the citizen and the National Health Service. It will be part of the proximity circuit together with the community houses", has explained the president of Federfarma, Marco Cossolo. Among the concerns of Italians is that not all pharmacies are equipped or can be equipped for guarantee new services (39.4%), with the risk of maintaining significant territorial differences in access to services. "In reality, the ones that carry out the services the most are the rural pharmacies and those of decentralized municipalities and not, as is you might believe, those of the large urban centers", he explains Cossolo again. The service pharmacy is also conceived as a tool to lighten the burden on the National Health Service. "We have seen that where one adheres to the experimentation of the pharmacy of services, there is a significant reduction in waiting lists, with peaks of 15-20 percent", stated the undersecretary to Health, Marcello Gemmato. "As regards the experimentation underway - added the undersecretary - September we will draw the line and evaluate whether it has given, as I I expect the desired results. In that case we will proceed with a increase in funding to the fund and then make it structural". A perspective also well regarded by some opposition figures. "Given the state of health of the our health system and the waiting list situation - said the deputy of Italia Viva Davide Faraone - it would be criminal to leave medical devices on the bench essential for citizens".