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  • Covid-19 Who can be tested for antigens in pharmacies in Madrid?

The Minister of Health,

Carolina Darias

, has announced that next Tuesday the Council of Ministers will approve the Royal Decree that will allow the sale

of self-diagnostic tests

, that is, of antigens or antibodies, against Covid-19 in pharmacies without need for prescription.

In an appearance before the Health and Consumer Affairs Commission of the Congress of Deputies, Darias has claimed that "it is necessary to increase the diagnostic capacity to more quickly identify suspected positive cases and even asymptomatic cases, as is happening in the population of 12 to 29 years, and control the progression of the pandemic in the most effective way possible. "

"The requirement of prescription was a barrier," admitted the minister.

This Royal Decree-Law received on Friday, July 8, the mandatory positive opinion of the Council of State.

The draft of the new Health standard, published in May, justifies that "the availability of self-diagnostic tests for Covid-19 will allow the general population to carry out the tests

without the intervention of a health professional

, which on the one hand it will reduce to a certain extent the care pressure of the health centers and will allow the rapid identification of suspected positive cases ".

In the same way, the Ministry recognizes that the health crisis caused by Covid-19 "makes it necessary to increase the diagnostic capacity of the National Health System, in order to quickly identify suspected positive cases, to take appropriate measures and thus control effectively the progression of the pandemic while caring for those affected by the pandemic and assisting in their recovery. "

"Taking into account that the requirement of prescription for the sale of these products to the public would constitute an important barrier for their use, it is convenient to include them among the self-diagnostic products exempted from the need for prescription for their acquisition in pharmacies", as has explained the Ministry in its draft.

Regarding the impact that the approval of the Royal Decree-Law may produce for the economy, Health considers that "increasing the diagnostic capacity of the National Health System, in order to quickly identify

suspected positive cases

, will help to effectively control the progression of the pandemic and, therefore, to the reduction of mobility restrictions and the resumption of normal activities ".

After this standard is approved, the Covid-19 self-diagnostic tests will join other tests that also do not need a prescription, such as those for pregnancy and fertility, as well as those for the determination of blood glucose or the detection of HIV.

Like these products, tests to detect Covid-19 may be allowed to advertise.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • Coronavirus

  • Carolina Darias

  • Minister council

  • Congress of Deputies

  • Covid 19

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