Health Ministry Addressing Error in E-Prescription Amendment

Bratislava, January 2 (TASR) - The Health Ministry is intensively dealing with the situation regarding e-prescriptions, which can't be issued for some medicines since January 1 due to an amendment to the National Health Information System Act, while claiming it wants to reduce the impact on the public as soon as possible, TASR has learnt from the ministry's communications department. "The entire related legislative process has to be implemented in several stages. The last stage of the process will be implemented during the first quarter of 2025. At the same time, the ministry is taking all steps to avoid any interference with the rights of patients," they added. The ministry also explained that due to the technical and legislative necessity of the modification, it was essential to comply with European Union (EU) law on the protection of personal data in relation to the e-prescription service. "Therefore, for a short period, it won't be possible to prescribe an e-prescription for, for example, medicines fully reimbursed by the patient. In such cases, the doctor will issue a paper prescription to the patient," the ministry explained. Furthermore, the ministry stated that it is trying to reach a solution regarding the technical and procedural aspects of the e-prescription service with the National Centre for Health Information and representatives of individual health insurance companies. In December last year, the House approved an amendment to the National Health Information System Act, proposed by the Health Ministry. According to the amendment, electronic services would be modified and new ones should be created in the health care system. In this context, the opposition KDH warned that due to imprecise wording in the law, e-prescriptions won't be possible for some medicines. The ministry declared that it was trying to resolve the error so that there would be no need to issue paper prescriptions for medicines. lin/mcs