The start of the new medication renewal service for chronically ill patients in pharmacies was highlighted today by the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, the executive director of the SNS, Fernando Araújo, the president of the National Pharmacy Association, Ema Paulino, and the president of the Order of Nurses, Hélder Mota Filipe, at the Alto dos Moinhos Family Health Unit, in Lisbon.

At the end of the visit, Fernando Araújo highlighted the benefit of this measure, which also means there is no longer a limit on the number of packages to be prescribed for medicines intended for the treatment of chronic diseases, and in cases of prolonged treatments, it will be enough for the doctor to mark this option on the prescription, indicating the dosage and duration of treatment.

Fernando Araújo highlighted that the fact that the pharmacist can send notes to the doctor about doubts or issues relating to the user, “which is a huge increase in safety, an increase in quality”.

“I think it is a fundamental step in this journey that we are taking to have community pharmacies with us in our health system and, above all, we have proximity to access for users”, he highlighted.