Premier Fico Urges Sasko to Resolve ePrescription Issue Urgently

Bratislava, January 9 (TASR) - Premier Robert Fico (Smer-SD) has urged Health Minister Kamil Sasko (Voice-SD) to resolve the issue concerning e-prescriptions urgently, TASR has learnt from the premier's statement on social media. According to Fico, Sasko informed him that the ministry is taking immediate measures to ensure that e-prescriptions will be issued again in the coming hours and days. In January, an amendment to the National Health-care Information System Act came into force. The possibility of issuing e-prescriptions for some medicines has been scrapped. This is the case, for example, for medicines whose cost is fully reimbursed by patients. The Health Ministry explained that, in view of the technical-legislative need for the modification, there was a need to respect European Union law on the protection of personal data in relation to the electronic prescription service (ePrescription). It declared that it was addressing the situation in order to reduce the impact on the public as soon as possible. The Health Ministry, health-insurance companies and the National Health Information Centre (NCZI) have agreed to initiate a legislative process to correct the changes in e-prescriptions by the end of March at the latest. The changes have been repeatedly criticised by the opposition and health-care organisations, which are calling for a rapid correction of inaccurate wording in the law. lin/df