Important changes to electronic prescriptions. The Ministry of Health wants to introduce restrictions on some medicines

The Ministry of Health intends to stop the practice of giving electronic prescriptions in bulk on the Internet. To this end, it intends to strengthen the rules for prescribing psychotropic and narcotic drugs. In their case, the prescription would only be issued in electronic form, after a preliminary examination of the patient, reports Rynekzdrowia.pl.

The Ministry of Health explains what changes await us

The special website Rynekzdrowia.pl informs that amendments to the Regulation of the Minister of Health of October 24, 2019 on narcotic drugs, psychoactive substances, precursors of category 1 and preparations containing these agents or substances are currently being processed (Journal of Laws of 2021. , item 166). The draft document was published in early May as a response to the recent high-profile case of buying electronic prescriptions online.

The Ministry of Health explains that The proposed changes will address prescriptions made for psychoactive and narcotic drugs. Such instructions can only be obtained in electronic form after a personal examination of the patient, based on the number and type of drugs previously prescribed. The regulation states that the drug verification mode will not apply to a patient who does not have an Online Patient Account, due to the inability to perform verification in the P1 system.

On the other hand, giving instructions remotely without the need for random visits will be possible if which since the patient’s last examination – which led to prescribing preparations containing a narcotic substance of groups IN or II-N, a psychoactive substance from groups II-P, III-P or IV-P, or a precursor of category 1. – no more than 12 months have passed.

However, the status of examining the patient will be removed in that event if the drug is necessary to continue the treatment, which will be reflected in the patient’s health status given in the medical records. On the other hand, the drug can be given if the patient has previously been prescribed another preparation with the above-mentioned substances only if the doctor, taking into account the patient’s condition, considers it necessary.

It’s about patient safety

The aforementioned changes aim to make it impossible to order drugs containing narcotic drugs, psychoactive substances or category 1 precursors through paid online services without a prior examination of the patient. Considering the performance of electronic payment order entities, there are offenses that threaten the health and safety of the patient and obtaining certain medicinal products for the purpose of intoxication. – reported the Ministry of Health.

The problem of mass orders on the Internet

The issue of buying electronic drugs via the Internet was revealed a few months ago by journalists from Dziennik Gazeta Prawna. Their data showed that the record holder had to issue more than 5.3 thousand in the first quarter of 2022. orders. That means he would have to rewrite them… every five minutes.