The Alcalá de Henares City Council has made available to the population of Alcalá up to 25 limited parking spaces, with high turnover, to improve accessibility to as many pharmacies in Alcalá, prioritizing especially access to those with extended hours of public service, 24 or 12 hours.
The Health Councillor, Teófilo Lozano, presented this initiative, accompanied by Manuel Martínez del Peral, President of the Official College of Pharmacists of Madrid (COFM) and other representatives of the COFM, as well as the owners of the pharmacy located at Daoíz y Velarde, 2, Jesús Monedero and Eva María Zar. Lozano explained that the community pharmacy activity and its professionals are of essential importance, ensuring access to medication and facilitating, in coordination with the healthcare system, pharmacotherapeutic follow-up and health education for patients and the general population.
In this regard, the Health Councillor explained that «urgent pharmacy access should not be delayed due to difficulties in accessing the nearest pharmacy by vehicle. We understand that access to a specific medication in a community pharmacy can be as critical as accessing any healthcare facility for emergency reasons.»
In this line, Lozano explained that «the Alcalá de Henares City Council has managed to establish up to 25 limited parking spaces for public service, after the necessary negotiations between the Health Department and the representation of the Official College of Pharmacists of Madrid in Alcalá de Henares (COFM), as well as the assessment by the Traffic Unit of the Department of Citizen Security and the execution by the Department of Works, Urban Maintenance, and Municipal Buildings.
Lozano added that «this initiative has allowed the incorporation of 16 new limited parking spaces up to this date of the current term, solely based on the public service utility. The commitment of this Government team to public service for the population of Alcalá aims to be long-lasting, in this case to promote their health in collaboration with the Alcalá community pharmacy.»
Thus, this reservation will facilitate pharmaceutical dispensing through the use of parking spaces, with a limited time and high turnover (10 minutes during opening hours) at the door/near pharmacies in Alcalá de Henares. This in a context of continued collaboration between our City Council and the Official College of Pharmacists of Madrid in Alcalá de Henares.
Collaboration with COFM
This is how the Alcalá de Henares City Council, through its Health Department, continues to improve collaboration channels with the Official College of Pharmacists of Madrid and the 69 pharmacies in Alcalá, to provide better service to the population of Alcalá de Henares through the so-called «community pharmacy.»
This initiative is added to other public service collaboration actions undertaken by the City Council and the COFM, such as the «Cardioprotective Pharmacies» initiative to allow immediate action in case of cardiac arrest using external defibrillators in 24 pharmacies in our city, participation through a mobile unit in the campaign «Here is a pharmacist… in action,» which was of great interest to citizens, and the systematic collaboration of pharmacies in health promotion and disease prevention activities (Health Fair and Heart Week), as well as in daily activities, sharing with the City Council the service to the health of the population of Alcalá de Henares.
