Republic of Tuesday 16 April 2013, page 36
by Cillis Anna Rita
Not only medicines or wellness products, but also health services. This is what pharmacies are looking at today. As foreseen, moreover, by four implementing decrees which have the objective not only of facilitating citizens' access to some services of the National Health Service, but also of rationalizing expenses and shortening waiting times. The more than 18,000 Italian green crosses, both public and private, have been at the starting line for some time, but at the start «there is no renewal of the agreement with the National Health Service, which has been stopped since 1998, points out, however, Annarosa Racca, president of Federfarma - without this step the situation will not get resolved ». For Racca, that is the necessary connection point to get a plan off the ground that could revolutionize access to some services. An example? In the pharmacy, immediately after the agreement with the Regions, tests for blood sugar, cholesterol, triglycerides, transaminases can be done everywhere. Measure urine and ovulation parameters, such as blood pressure or oxygen saturation values. Book medical appointments, collect reports. Always in the pharmacy you can request, at home, a nurse or a herbalist. These are just a few examples, of course. And all this can be enjoyed by a Sicilian as a South Tyrolean, without geographical distinction, in any location: from the metropolis to the mountain village. It must be said that in some areas of Italy all this is already a reality. «Many Among the shelves appear the clinic of the new services are available in different areas, however, thanks to the autonomous initiative of the pharmacies or on the basis of some agreements with local health authorities or Regions. Booking a medical visit is already possible in Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Friuli Venezia Giulia. But there are also other examples to cite: in Brescia, in accordance with the local health system, a home nurse can be requested on an experimental basis. Unfortunately, however, the situation in Italy is heterogeneous», explains Racca. A necessary transformation, however, even in the face of the crisis which, for the first time, has hit pharmacies causing a decline in the portfolio of one billion in just one year (from 25.8 billion euros in 2011 to 24.8), or "14 percent less than the total", underlines Lorenzo Brambilla, director of Ims Health. "The economic situation is not the easiest for us either, some pharmacies have gone bankrupt," confirms the president of the federation. In the last year, about fifty Green Crosses would have lowered the shutter forever. For Andrea Mandelli, president of Fofi, the Federation of Italian Pharmacists' Orders, the way forward to get out of the impasse is to transform pharmacies "into health facilities that can monitor the adherence of citizens' pharmacological therapies, to make a single example. The capillarity of pharmacies must be exploited. The moment is not the easiest and the difficulties in applying the decrees are
