In Ukraine, starting next year, insulins and narcotic substances will be dispensed in pharmacies only by prescription.
"Streamlining the drug market and introducing an electronic prescription is one of the main components of the healthcare reform. It is very important for us to avoid all actions related to self-medication. For example, a person gets sick and immediately surfs the Internet for recommendations. Then he or she goes to the pharmacy, buys medicines that should be issued only on prescription forms. This all directly affects your health," – health Minister Maxim Stephanouv said.
He also noted that when taking antibiotics without control, there is resistance to antibacterial therapy. In addition, when the patient really needs a course of antibiotics, the treatment won’t have the desired effect.
"We have developed a plan to gradually switch to electronic recipes. All of them are recorded in the system, and we will be able to track what doctor wrote the prescription," – Stepanov said.
According to the plan, there are following stages of the electronic prescription system introduction in Ukraine: 2021 – narcotic drugs, insulins, and immunosuppressors; 2022 – all antibiotics; 2023 – other prescription drugs.