regulation
Antonio Pascual, president of the National Association of Pharmacies of Mexico (Anafarmex) explained that CAFs have grown because people demand their services.
He stated that these medical establishments provide 10 million consultations per month. The IMSS, according to official data, provides around 9 million Family Medicine consultations every month.
“Given that in Mexico we do not have universal health coverage, it is not feasible that these offices adjacent to pharmacies will disappear. The population, both insured and uninsured, goes to pharmacies that have a doctor’s office,” he indicated.
The president of Anafarmex explained that the CAFs are judged from a confusion, since it is thought that they treat all kinds of ailments, when in reality they only provide first-level care, that is, for minor problems that do not require any medical specialty.
“Instead of making a prelude to a first-level illness, the population prefers to have closer attention due to the saving of time and the affordable cost for it,” he explained.
However, he acknowledged that some pharmacy offices do operate with irregularities.
“Some irregularities were pointed out, but it is not in a generalized way. Which? For example, an over-prescription of drugs, ”she indicated.
For this reason, Anafarmex is preparing a protocol to improve CAFs and agrees to strengthen their regulation, he said.
On August 16, the Undersecretary for Prevention and Health Promotion, Hugo López-Gatell, declared that the pharmacy offices were a hoax, but that they could not be canceled due to the lags in the health system. He announced that what they could do was implement stricter regulation.
In this regard, Dr. Castañeda said that the regulation is necessary, but it must start from objective data, not from “back and forth.” To do this, he urged Cofepris to make transparent the evaluations it has carried out on the CAFs.
“I don’t know if Cofepris is not fulfilling its obligation to regulate them or is not complying with the transparency of telling us what happened, but with objective data,” said the IPN expert.
Since 2016, the Health Commission of the Senate of the Republic approved a reform to the General Health Law to establish that Cofepris is responsible for regulating the medical service provided in CAFs.
Then it was reported that Cofepris had closed 340 pharmacy offices for not respecting health regulations.
The president of UNIFACC affirmed that in the previous six-year term, information about these verification actions was disseminated, but now they do not know data in this regard.
“Cofepris does not have the capacity to verify establishments and that impacts users and patients,” he reiterated.
The ANAFARMEX protocol, Antonio Pascual indicated, includes a call for the offices of its pharmacies to adjust to current regulations.
CAFs emerged 25 years ago and since then, he assured, they have improved.
“At the beginning there was a direct communication from the office to the pharmacy, which generated a possible conflict of interest. Now it is no longer the case. Although they are on the same property, there is no communication. And, on the other hand, the patient can fill his prescription not necessarily in the adjacent pharmacy, he has the right to go to another pharmacy. And this is what the protocol contemplates, ”he advanced.
How to recognize a regular pharmacy office?
The president of the National Interdisciplinary Union of Pharmacies, Clinics and Clinics (UNIFACC), Óscar Zavala Martínez, recommends that the population that goes to pharmacy clinics verify that they have the following records, which must be displayed in the establishments:
-Sanitary license.
-Notice of operation issued by Cofepris.
-Certificate of pharmacy dispenser.
-Professional title of the treating physician.