As of December, physicians will be obliged to prescribe medicines by specifying the active ingredient, and will also be able to state the commercial name of the drug on the prescription. These are some of the changes included in a new law on medicaments passed by parliament on September 13, the SITA newswire reported.
The new law also states that health insurance companies will eventually inform physicians at least once a month about which drugs patients should receive. Physicians will then prescribe the effective ingredients and pharmacists will be obliged to offer patients the least expensive medicine containing the active ingredient. However, patients will be allowed to pick a different medication rather than the offered drug. The only one responsible for handing out the right drug and its quality will be pharmacists and drug producers.
“In compliance with the fundamental principles of a unified market, business in this sector will be liberalised,” the Health Ministry stated, as quoted by SITA, adding that the main principle of liberalisation should be the simplification of business terms, which means that some existing approval procedures will be replaced by a simple notification of the relevant authority. At the same time, the liability level of individual subjects will increase and certain sanctions will be tightened.
The new law will also include regulations and terms for voluntary provision of discounts and bonuses for patients, and various bans on pharmacists receiving money from suspicious sources. It will not limit one person to running only one pharmacy.
Source: SITA
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
