The Ministry of Health regulated the necessary documentation for the sale of medicines. Recipes with certified electronic signatures will be valid
For iProfessional
12/26/2022 – 1:43 p.m.
The Ministry of Health of the Nation, through resolution 3622/2022 published today in the Official bulletinarranged that already The photos of the recipes will not be valid paper medical letters sent by mail or WhatsApp to buy a medicine or request a treatment.
By Resolution 696/20, modifications were authorized in the prescription and dispensing of psychotropic or other medications for the care of chronic and possibly acute pathologies during the validity of the health emergency and modifications were introduced to the procedures established in Laws 17,132, 17,565, 19,303 and in ANMAT Provision 13.831/16, regarding patients with chronic or acute treatments.
This is how the submission of prescriptions in text message format or messages through web, mail or fax messaging applications and, in turn, can present it at the pharmacy, so that the patient does not have to go to the health center or hospital to have it renewed the prescription for chronic medications and/or any other medication that you regularly use.
The Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Health, Sonia Tarragona, pointed out that what is sought is regulate the prescription of medicines, since with the pandemic exceptions were enabled. Like the digital channels to present medical orders so that patients with psychiatric, chronic or acute pathologies do not have to go to pharmacies to continue their treatment in the midst of confinements.
When a health professional signs the prescription digitally, “he has the signature registered and has the competence to issue a prescription and a prescription,” explained the official.
Patients could no longer present or send to the pharmacy a photo of the prescription on paper, a prescription by mail, or a prescription by WhatsApp, since in these cases they are photos, image captures that “have not validated the signature nor the registration of the professional who makes it, that was enabled only due to pandemic times. Yes, of course, the digital prescription continues to be validated, in fact there is an Electronic Prescription Law, which is not yet regulated due to a series of complexities”, completed Tarragona.
The emergency procedure issued during the Covid 19 pandemic was repealed
The previous procedure whereby a patient could send a photo of the prescription, violated a series of laws, such as the Law on Pharmacy, the Law on Professional Practice. It was a procedure that was enabled as an exceptional measure in the context of the health crisis.
What the Law says about electronic prescriptions
National Law 27,553, sanctioned in August 2020, indicates that the prescription of medicines can be made in electronic or digital prescriptions and they can be signed with handwritten, electronic or digital signatures throughout the national territory.
The regulations apply to prescriptions or medical, dental or other professionals authorized to prescribe prescriptions in the fields of healthcare and pharmaceutical care.
According to the Law, any pharmacy or pharmacy services of health establishments must supply the medicines prescribed in electronic or digital prescriptions without objection.
The Electronic Prescription Law has already been passed two years and four months after being sanctioned but it has not yet been regulated, so it remains to be defined how the instrumentation will be to adapt the existing electronic systems to use digital prescriptions, and telehealth care platforms.
The prescriptions must contain the following information in the national language: name, surname, profession, registration number, address, telephone number and email when applicable. Only technical positions or titles registered with the competent application authority can be announced and under the conditions that are regulated.
