The role that pharmacists play in different settings, from community pharmacies to distribution, public health, hospitals, and research, has been highlighted at the X Canary Islands Pharmaceutical Conference. Organized by the Council of Canary Islands Pharmaceutical Colleges (COFCAN), the event is being held from today until Saturday in Lanzarote, with the participation of nearly 200 pharmacists from all autonomous communities, under the slogan “For a global pharmacy with greater healthcare capacity.”.
The president of COFCAN, Loreto Gómez, pointed out that “pharmacists can be the answer to many problems of the National Health System and also part of the solution,” while the vice president, Manuel Ángel Galván, highlighted the collective's ability to “take a step forward in the face of adversity.”.
“The community pharmacy,” said Loreto Gómez, “is an essential resource for Spanish healthcare, as it already is for the healthcare systems of many countries around the world,” and she highlighted the potential that the pharmacy network has to respond to socio-health needs.
For his part, the Director General of Public Health of the Canary Islands Health Service, José Díaz Flores, who opened and closed these conferences, highlighted the increasingly important role that pharmacists are adopting in the transformation of the health system towards a more humanized model with higher quality of care.
“Pharmacists, as accessible and well-trained professionals, are key to promoting healthy habits in the entire population,” and in this regard, he highlighted several projects that the Ministry of Health is working on in collaboration with professional associations in the Canary Islands, especially those related to vaccination.
Trusted intermediaries
“The more than 3,500 registered pharmacists in the Canary Islands not only know our patients” treatments but also their fears and doubts. Therefore, they are privileged intermediaries for fostering confidence in vaccines and their importance in protecting individual and collective health," he stressed.
The president of the General Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges, Jesús Aguilar, highlighted the joint work of the Official Colleges of Pharmacists of Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife with the Administration to promote the implementation of interoperable electronic prescriptions, the Communication Project between Pharmacies and Health Centers, or smoking cessation programs.
These achievements, he pointed out, gain «even more value» if we consider the environment in which they are developed, with «unique particularities» such as insularity, geographical dispersion, and population diversity.
«Let's continue building, from the Canary Islands, a more global, more caring, and more human Pharmacy that accompanies, listens to, and transforms the health of our society,» the president of the General Council emphasized.
During his speech, Manuel Ángel Galván compared Pharmacy professionals to Lanzarote - the island where the conference is being held - by pointing out that they are “a rare example that rises to the occasion in adversity,” citing the events in La Palma with the volcano, the DANA in Valencia, or the COVID-19 pandemic nationwide as examples.
He added that “without the current pharmaceutical model, this would not be possible,” and highlighted that, thanks to it, “citizens from different islands or towns in the Canary Islands have access to the same healthcare advice, medication, and often, comfort.”.
