The Health Ministry wants drugs that contain narcotics to be prescribed only by e-prescription. The change is part of a draft amending Ordinance 4, which sets the rules for prescribing and dispensing medicines.

The ministry also proposes that prescriptions for acute conditions last 30 days instead of 10. Quantities will change too. The minister's reasoning is that the longer period is needed because the treatment course for a large share of drugs is longer than 10 days.

Protocols for drugs paid for by the health insurance fund will be electronic only, with a qualified electronic signature. They will be issued by specialists in the relevant disease who work in outpatient care and have a contract with the fund, and by specialist panels in hospitals that also have a contract with it. Drugs for home treatment that the fund pays for in full or in part will be prescribed by e-prescription or electronic protocol.

Under the draft, all drugs from one outpatient visit will go on a single prescription. Drugs for acute conditions will not be included. A separate prescription will also be issued when the prescribing doctor decides one is needed.

One electronic protocol will list one medicinal product, up to three dosage units and one disease.

The draft also changes the deadlines for filling electronic prescriptions, how long they stay valid and how they are filled. If a prescription is only partly filled, the patient can collect the rest from the same pharmacy or another one, as long as it has a contract with the health insurance fund. This is possible throughout the filling period, but not after the prescription expires.

The public consultation on the draft, which is published on the Health Ministry's website, will last one month.