The Ministry of Health is planning changes to regulations that will help limit abuses in the area of prescribing prescriptions through prescription machines, the ministry said in response to questions from TVN24. The changes impose restrictions on issuing prescriptions for the most addictive substances without a personal examination of the patient.
The Ministry informed that it is currently working on amending the regulation of the Minister of Health on narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances, category 1 precursors and preparations containing these drugs or substances, issued pursuant to Article 41 paragraph 5 of the Act on Counteracting Drug Addiction.
“We have had pre-consultations with the medical and pharmacist community,” we read in response to questions from TVN24.
The Ministry wants to submit the project for public consultation this week.
What changes?
“The changes involve limiting the possibility of issuing prescriptions for the most addictive substances without a personal examination of the patient,” the Ministry of Health emphasizes.
“At the same time, the project allows for the issuing of follow-up prescriptions for 3 months by a physician providing health care services under an agreement on the provision of health care services in the scope of primary health care within the meaning of the Act on health care services financed from public funds,” he adds.
The Ministry estimates that the changes will come into force in the second half of September.
Fentanyl – more and more poisonings
In recent months, the Polish media has repeatedly reported poisonings and deaths resulting from the use of fentanyl purchased on the black market. Previously, more and more frequent cases of poisoning were reported in European countries, and for years this substance has been wreaking havoc in USAkilling more than 100,000 Americans for the third year in a row.
Fentanyl is a strong opioid painkiller that can only be obtained by prescription. Since the beginning of this year, the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate has recorded 48 cases of poisoning with this substance. In February, three people died from fentanyl in Żuromin, and at the end of last year, one in Poznań. Since June 17, the e-health center has been monitoring the prescription of psychotropic and narcotic drugs, including fentanyl, every day, because more and more such prescriptions are in circulation.
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