Pharmacies in Austria play an important role in healthcare. In the current issue of the health magazine, krone.tv presenter Raphaela Scharf spoke with the president of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists, Ulrike Mursch-Edlmayr, about what supply role they will play in the future and when vaccinations will also take place in the future. pharmacies.
A reform of the healthcare system is currently being discussed. When asked about the role of pharmacies in this, the president of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists mentions three pillars in the GeMa Talk that should be served in all reform considerations: firstly, the “fragmented responsibilities” and secondly, the different financing of hospitals and the private sector. A third major challenge is that everything in healthcare is currently focused on curative treatments. “Things like prevention are completely in the background, but those are the themes of the future,” emphasizes Ulrike Mursch-Edlmayr.
Important supply role
Where do the pharmacists come in? The 1,400 pharmacies across Austria are so spread over both urban and rural areas that they represent the Austrian population “1:1 and excellent”. As a result, all Austrians have a fair and very equal chance to “get not only medicines, but also health advice and care,” said the president of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists. “They are always there. There is no holiday, no training-related closure. The Austrian pharmacies are available 365 days a year, 7 days a week, 4 hours a day,” she emphasizes the important supply role.
Reliable answers to health questions
What will this role look like in the future? According to the chairman of the Chamber of Pharmacists, the existing supply contracts are constantly optimized, continued and continued. People are said to need “places of trust and safety, especially in difficult situations”. In pharmacies, everyone gets reliable answers to their health questions. “Of course we want to continue to expand and maintain this”, Mursch-Edlmayr also recalls the testing situation during the corona pandemic, “where the pharmacies made testing options available to the population in a very short time”.
Testing, remote care and vaccinations
But pharmacies could not only offer “highly professional and high-quality tests” related to infectious diseases. The president of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists cites the field of early detection of chronic diseases as examples of further testing possibilities. But pharmacies can play a greater role in addition to medical testing in the future, for example in the field of telemedical care, and perhaps also in the field of vaccination.
Will you soon be able to get your stitches from the pharmacy? 2,000 pharmacists are available as “jokers” during Corona, who are trained on an international level in the field of vaccination, Mursch-Edlmayr explains in an interview with Raphaela Scharf. “If the political decision-makers want it: we are prepared and can deliver immediately,” concluded the president of the Austrian Chamber of Pharmacists.
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Source: Krone
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