Ministry of Health Has Offered Full Use of Old Prescriptions

On May 23th, 2017 the Ministry of Health of Ukraine published draft “On Amendments to Order of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine No. 360 as of July 19th, 2005” for public discussion.

The draft provides for use of prescription form number 1 (FA-1) of old pattern until its exhaustion. Forms number 1 are provided to patients in pharmacies to receive medicines under reimbursement program.

Let us remind you that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine has recently made changes to the Regulations on Prescribing Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, the Procedure for Sale of Medicinal Products and Medical Devices in Pharmacies and their Units and the Rules on Storage, Recording and Disposal of Prescription Forms approved by the mentioned order of the Ministry of Health No. 360.

Based on current regulations the Ministry of Health of Ukraine allowed parallel use of forms No. 1 of old and new pattern by July 1st, 2017. If old forms are used, the prescription should contain the following information:

• corner stamp of healthcare institution;

• be signed and sealed by a doctor;

• for drugs, cost of which is subject to reimbursement, prescription should be additionally certified by an official seal of a healthcare institution and red stamp “subject to reimbursement”.

In turn, a pharmacist when realizing a medicinal product which is subject to reimbursement, affixes on the prescription written on an old form red stamp “released for free” or “released at a discount”. The prescription remains in the pharmacy for reporting of released medicinal products which are subject to full or partial reimbursement.

We can assume that in case the draft on the old forms is adopted, similar rules for prescribing and realizing drugs should be followed.