From April 1, prescription drugs can be purchased both by electronic and paper prescription.
From the first of April, an electronic prescription for all prescription drugs is implemented.
The Ministry of Health notes that about 60% of medicines registered in Ukraine are prescription drugs. The rest of the medicines that do not require a doctor’s prescription can still be freely purchased at the pharmacy. That is, nothing will fundamentally change for Ukrainians – prescription drugs were sold by prescription before.
How to get an electronic prescription for a prescription drug?
- It is necessary to consult a doctor for an appointment.
- At the appointment, you can choose which prescription you want to buy medicine from the pharmacy – electronic or paper.
- If you chose an electronic prescription, during the examination, the doctor will, if necessary, register you in the electronic health care system (EHS) and create an e-prescription, indicating the active substance, dosage, duration of the course and instructions for taking the medication.
- After that, you will receive an SMS message with the number of the electronic prescription and the unique code for its redemption.
- You can find a pharmacy that dispenses medicine by electronic prescription by using a special dashboard, which will tell you the address of the nearest pharmacy. To do this, it is enough to enter or select from the list in the search bar the name of your locality.
- You can buy medicines with an electronic prescription at a pharmacy within 10 days (if they are narcotic drugs (psychotropic drugs)) or within 30 days (for other prescription drugs).
- In order to purchase the medicine, it is enough to inform the pharmacist of the required details via SMS — the prescription number and the redemption code.
- The pharmacist will offer you medicines available in the pharmacy that contain the active substance prescribed by the doctor – so you can choose the medicine according to your budget.
The Ministry of Health notes that the issuance of e-prescription drugs is carried out in stages, including a transitional period in view of a full-scale war.
The situation in the regions where hostilities are being taken into account is also taken into account, where a prescription is not required for dispensing prescription drugs, except for narcotic (psychotropic) and potent (poisonous) substances.
From April 1, a prescription becomes mandatory only for drugs with prescription status. In pharmacies, they can be purchased both by e-prescription and by paper. During the current martial law, pharmacies can accept both electronic and paper prescriptions.
Until April 1, prescription drugs also had to be dispensed with a prescription, but only with a paper one. If the pharmacy dispensed such drugs without a prescription, it knowingly violated the law. That is, nothing changes from April 1. Just added an e-recipe.
Inna BIRYUKOVA
