Yesterday, Monday, the start was given in a large majority of pharmacies in Catalonia to the free and universal distribution of reusable menstrual products, one of the actions included in the comprehensive menstrual and climacteric equity plan 2023-2025, promoted by the Department of Equality and Feminisms. In principle, and according to what this newspaper was able to capture, the initiative had a good acceptance. Many clients knew that it was the first day they could purchase them and they went with the QR that they had previously downloaded in the La meva salut application. It is true that at some moments the portal collapsed and queues were generated to enter, but after a few minutes of waiting – between 1 and 4, according to sources from the Council of Pharmaceutical Colleges of Catalonia ( CCFC) – users were able to enter it.
“There has been a lot of demand”, Elena Carazo, owner of the Provença 156 pharmacy in Barcelona, ??explained to La Vanguardia. “Since we opened in the morning we haven’t stopped. We had stock, but we have already made some reservations because we ran out of some items,” he added. The star product, at least in his establishment, was menstrual panties. “It is the one that has had the most demand”, he affirmed. The panties are one of the three items (along with the menstrual cup or a pack of two reusable cloth pads) that Catalan women, aged 10 to 60, or trans men who menstruate can access. Through the QR that must be downloaded from My Health, they can get one, and only once.
That’s what Cristina did, who in the early afternoon arrived at Farmàcia Torres, on Carrer Aribau in Barcelona, ??to get some panties. I had previously tried it in other establishments without success. In the morning I had gone to a pharmacy whose computer system had collapsed. Later, in another, they told him that they were not part of the program, and even in a third, they had run out of stock.
Some CCFC sources assure that, in principle, most of the 3,284 pharmacies in Catalonia have joined the program (which will be valid in 2024 and all of 2025), although there may be some cases that have not. In turn, they explain that both the program that pharmacies use to dispense the products and My Health worked as intended, although there may have been some cases where it didn’t and that was fixed. “In La meva salut at some point access queues were generated, which lasted from 1 to 4 minutes”, they emphasize.
Núria, another customer who was waiting to be attended to at Farmàcia Torres, had to wait eight minutes to enter the aforementioned portal. Nevertheless, he acceded to it. Satisfied with the initiative, she affirmed – also Cristina, the other customer with whom she met at the pharmacy – that “they should have implemented it earlier”. He acquired the star product: menstrual panties. “It is the item we have sold the most”, confirmed Neus Hierro, in charge of the establishment.
Meanwhile, and at that same time (around 4 p.m.), only two customers were interested in menstrual products at the Urgellés Fàbregas pharmacy. One took some panties with her, while the second was left without being able to purchase anything because she couldn’t enter My health. “It was collapsed,” explained Patrícia Urgellés, one of the store’s owners. “There’s no need to run, the program lasts a while.”
At the Aribau pharmacy, panties were also the most demanded product. This was explained by one of the clerks, who affirmed, however, that the customers had not gone there en masse in search of these articles. “We must have served five people”, he assured. Of course, he recognized that they had placed an order – which they will receive in 24 or 48 hours – because they had run out of a specific size of a product.
At the Costa Codina pharmacy, on Gran Via in Barcelona, ??there was also not a great demand. As of early afternoon, only one person had been interested in how they could obtain any of the items. In any case, they would not have been able to dispense it either: they had not yet reached the initial minimum stock. From the CCFC they say that in 24 or 48 hours all pharmacies will have the initial stock if they don’t already have it.
