Expanding healthcare: The role of Farmacias Similares clinics in the State of Mexico

Abstract

Objetive: To analyze the social impact of pharmacy-based clinics (CAF) on healthcare services, with the aim of identifying their role in access to medical services in Region 1 of the State of Mexico.

Materials and Methods: A descriptive observational study was conducted, which gathered the opinions of 334 users of medical consultation services offered by pharmacies, using an online survey on the Microsoft Forms platform.

Results: With a heterogeneous sample, the majority of participants were women (221) engaged in primary economic activities with a monthly income of less than 5,000 pesos. They stated that the medical consultation services offered by pharmacies positively impact at least three aspects of their social lives, with healthcare costs and accessibility being the areas where they rated this service most highly.

Conclusions:  The factors that have made medical consultation services at pharmacies such a significant service in the region are accompanied by ongoing complaints about the public health system, including wait times of around 40 minutes, travel times to the medical center of over 2 hours, and a healthcare system that excludes people engaged in informal economic activities from public coverage.

Keywords: Office adjacent to pharmacy; social impact; health coverage; public health services; quality of medical service.