European independent pharmacies are health centres that provide many services to society. They are not only establishments which dispense medicines needed by the population.
Independent pharmacies are managed and staffed by expert pharmacists who advise and assist the population in solving its health problems, promote prevention and improve its quality of life and wellbeing.
Furthermore, the tight network of pharmacies resulting in an efficient proximity and the health profile of the pharmacists ensure a safe access to pharmaceuticals as well as other health products and services to anyone.
Despite the evidence supporting the benefits that the independent pharmacists bring to the population, the current pharmacy model suffers continuous threats.
In this context, cooperatives are the natural structure that supports independent pharmacists working with common goals.
In a cooperative, pharmacists find a place in which to develop management improvement strategies to transform threats linked to the evolution of the sector into opportunities.
However pharmacies are part of the European market in which the profile of the pharmaceutical service is being globalized through the application of common measures.
European independent pharmacists need the support of a strong cooperative that is able to innovate in services and anticipate the needs of the pharmacies.
This is where SECOF plays its essential role.
SECOF is the structure created by 5 European cooperatives of pharmacists to ensure that independent pharmacists can continue to advance in the pharmaceutical care that the population needs in each of the countries where they are established.
All of the SECOF members are committed to this goal and also work to ensure the economic as well as the management independence that our partners, the independent pharmacies, need.
ARMAND PINTON
Chairman of the Board of Directors
