A great inconvenience is being suffered by citizens who are "struggling" to obtain a self-test from pharmacies in order to be tested for covid-19.
The steep rise in cases of coronavirus in the community has brought high demand, at a time when available self-tests are hard to find in pharmacies, according to the President of the Pharmaceutical Association, Helen Piera Isseiak.
As noted by Ms. Issayek speaking to the Cyprus[/B] Times and asked about complaints from citizens looking from pharmacy to pharmacy to obtain self-diagnosis tests, she notes that in the last two weeks there has been a tremendous increase in demand, while availability where it exists is very limited.
Asked to answer who is responsible and whether the competent services have been informed about the problem that exists and is inconveniencing citizens, she stresses that the shortage is not the responsibility of pharmacists, who would like to serve all citizens.
"Certainly the increase in cases has brought greater demand but at the moment we are asking for tests and they are not available in pharmacies. Small quantities disappear in no time, while citizens may go to 3-4 pharmacies to be served," he said.
At the same time, he called on officials to resolve the problem soon so that citizens have the right to self-test, which is considered very important to counter the spread of the virus.
What about prices... How the cap affects availability
The complaints that reached the Ministry of Health about individual cases of individual cases in which fraudsters were profiteering against citizens, led to the imposition of a cap in an attempt to regulate any problems that arose.
Of course, pharmacists believe that the cap set at very low prices, as they describe them, may also be to some extent responsible for insufficient availability.
As Mrs Isseyek explained, the ceiling for consumers to be aware of is 6 euros on the package of 5 tests and on the package of one at 1.70. She explained that it is forbidden to open packages of 5 and sell one.
"The cap was set at low prices and it may be in some people's interest to have them shipped to other countries," he said, calling on officials to resolve the problems as soon as possible.
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