Starting next February, El Masnou (Maresme) will be without the service of guards in the pharmacies from midnight. A decision that is a consequence of the closure of the emergency rooms of the CAP decreed by the Catalan Health Service.
If the closure of the medical emergency service, to refer them to the Badalona CUAP, was already controversial two years ago, but now the closure of pharmacies at night is maintained, a decision that the pharmacists themselves have adopted due to the low volume of clients that they have at night, has generated more controversy in the population.
At the moment, the municipal plenary session has approved an institutional declaration to defend the maintenance of the night guard service of pharmacies and the recovery of the emergencies of the CAP of El Masnou. They acknowledge, however, that ceasing to do night shifts, which until now have been done voluntarily by pharmacists, is a legal prerogative.
On July 1, 2020, the Generalitat decided to abolish 24-hour emergency care in the CAP of El Masnou and Decree 321/1996, of October 1, allows pharmacies in municipalities where there are no night emergencies in the CAP dispense with the night guard service. In this sense, the pharmacies of El Masnou have maintained night shifts of their own free will for more than two years, until they have decided to rely on the law and also on the figures, which show that very few people ask for medicines in the night strip. Thus, from February 1, the pharmacies of El Masnou will close their doors at night.
The El Masnou City Council learned of this change at the end of November 2022 and stated from the outset that in no case was it a decision shared by the consistory, which had not even been consulted. Since then, to reverse this decision, he has held numerous meetings both with the municipality's pharmacists and with the Health Department of the Generalitat. Although the talks between the town hall and pharmacists have not been fruitful, these health establishments, which, guaranteed by law and by the College of Pharmacists, could close at 8:30 p.m., will finally do so at midnight. Therefore, there will be no nightly pharmaceutical emergency service between 00:00 and 08:00.
The City Council also announces the filing of an appeal before the Minister of Health against the agreement of the College of Pharmacists of Barcelona, which accepts the request of the pharmacies of El Masnou and modifies their hours, suppressing the night guard service , without prior communication or hearing with the Masnou City Council.
El Masnou has a population of 23,829 inhabitants and currently has six pharmacies, which have been on rotating night duty until today. This night schedule also covers the municipalities of Alella and Teià, with 10,080 and 6,635 inhabitants respectively. Counting the three municipalities, therefore, the El Masnou duty pharmacies serve a total of 40,544 inhabitants.
