This is a pioneering initiative in Spain between a patient association and a professional college.
The Colleges of Pharmacists of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife have signed a cooperation agreement with the Canary Islands Persistent Covid Association that will serve to raise public awareness about Persistent Covid/Long Covid.
This is the first agreement signed by a Persistent Covid Association with professional colleges. It includes the creation of the country's first registry of patients with persistent Covid. The agreement will also allow for the dissemination of all types of information to society that contributes to a greater understanding of the disease Persistent Covid/Long Covid. To this end, publications will be produced and necessary training will be provided, which will be disseminated through the network of pharmacy offices in the Autonomous Community of the Canary Islands. Furthermore, a working group will be established to address relevant strategies for improving assistance to affected individuals or their families from pharmacy offices.
The agreement was signed by Montserrat Garrido, president of the Canary Islands Long COVID Association, Loreto Gómez, president of the Official College of Pharmacists of Las Palmas, and Manuel Ángel Galván González, president of the Official College of Pharmacists of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
For the president of the association, Montserrat Garrido, this agreement will allow patients to access the system in view of the lack of information on this new disease. For her part, Loreto Gómez, president of the pharmacists of Las Palmas, indicated that the aim is to support patients from the proximity of pharmacies as the first health point to which patients have access. Manuel Ángel Galván, president of the pharmacists of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, explained that “the first step included in the agreement is the training of pharmacists, which will allow for appropriate attention to the circumstances of each patient, who may have multiple pathologies”. Galván said that “after the training, the registry of patients with persistent covid-19 will be created, which will help to know the variables of the disease and will allow better treatment to be offered with the coordination of the different specialists involved”.
The Official Colleges of Pharmacists of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife are making their facilities available to the COVIDPERCAN Association, in order to develop programs, conferences, presentations, and other events that are proposed and that favor the dissemination of everything related to Persistent COVID/Long COVID.
