Filenews 9 December 2021 - by Ioanna Mantzipa
With pharmacists, the citizens who suffer daily for a digital rapid test result are faced with other difficulties. Problems on the platform for recording results have caused a headache for pharmacists who perform rapid antigen tests, but are not responsible for what is happening.
While the Government requires children aged 6 years and over and citizens at least once a week to undergo rapid tests, they are faced with several problems that mainly concern the digital certificate system. Speaking to "F", the president of the Limassol Pharmaceutical Association, Grigoris Gregoriou, said that the conduct of tests has become a big issue for them, pointing out that there are mainly three problems identified.
As he explained, some rapid test results take too long to be sent, with citizens waiting for the result in order to be able to go anywhere, as they need the digital form with their result. The second problem, according to Mr. Gregoriou, is that citizens, while receiving the message on their mobile phone, by clicking on the link that leads them to the EUDCC platform, the result shown is the result of the older test which is invalid, and not the result of the new, latest test.
"I was personally affected by this, as have many customers", noted Mr. Gregoriou, pointing out that the third problem occurs on the platform after several times it is blocked and as a result they themselves cannot register the results of citizens in the system. "What is happening is unacceptable. People expect to have the result immediately so that they can go to work, students can go to school. People even need it to go to the supermarket. There is a lot of inconvenience, and problems created. Customers come and ask us for the money back."
He added that what they are asking as pharmacists is to solve the problem which is not due to them. "The officials are calling on the citizens to go to the pharmacies and throwing the 'ball' at us. They know very well that the problem lies not with us but with the system of this particular platform." He also explained that all this was created from the moment the rapid test results were integrated into the system of electronic form through the platform.
The president of the Limassol Pharmaceutical Association brought yet another problem which he said he found out himself. "I tested my child and came to the pharmacy to register it. But my daughter was sent a message that her test was done yesterday. This is a simple example to see the problems that exist," he pointed out. He also said that the pharmacist after the registration of the test on the platform has no responsibility, while he noted that in cases where some wrong information is passed, they themselves proceed immediately to a correction.
In her statements on Alpha TV, the Superintendent of Clinical Laboratories, Karolina Stylianou, asked about the problem of digital rapid test results, noted that there were some problems on the platform, but efforts were made to solve them and since last Monday, it has been operating without problems.
