Prescriptions unified

Starting April 2012 uniform medical prescriptions will be mandatory

The Minister of Public Health, Ali Hassan Khalil, announced the adoption of a unified medical prescription procedure. The procedure involves the use of a uniform medical prescription by all doctors.

The objective of the unified prescription system is to regulate the use of prescription-only drugs at the levels of the doctors, the pharmacists, and the consumers/patients. The prescription form will bear a code, making it possible to trace back and detect any misuse at the three levels. It would specify the type of medicine, dosage, and the directions for use.

“The unified prescription will be effective starting the beginning of 2012, but it will not become mandatory before April 2012,” the minister said. Starting April 2012, all physicians in the country must use the unified form for any prescriptions they give to their patients.

The prescription forms will be exclusively printed by the Order of Physicians, with a fiscal stamp posted on each form. A different form is used for each prescription given to a patient. Each form will be issued in three copies, for the doctor, the pharmacist, and the patient.

“The unified prescription forms will be available for doctors within two weeks,” according to the president of the Order of Physicians, Sharaf Abu Sharaf.

Sharaf also said that the new prescription form allows physicians to specify an alternative generic of the prescribed medicine.

The price of each prescription form is LL500. The amount will go for the benefit of the doctors’ retirement fund.