BEIRUT: Certain medications will now be replaced with less expensive generic substitutes, Health Minister Wael Abu Faour said Tuesday, citing an agreement made with the Order of Physicians.
The syndicate approved a unified medical prescription, which allowed pharmacies to replace some medication with cheaper yet equally effective generic alternative, Faour said, during a press conference following his meeting with head of the syndicate, Anoine al-Boustani.
On Monday, Abu Faour had said that implementation would be “a positive step" by both opening the door to cheaper medication and tackling corruption.
“It would also put an end to illegal prescriptions by some doctors and some pharmaceutical companies that are a big part of the rampant corruption in the health sector.”
Former Health Minister Ali Hasan Khalil was behind the idea of unified prescriptions, which are aimed at properly monitoring medication and the dosage being prescribed by being exclusively printed by the Order of Physicians.
Under the proposal, the patient, the pharmacist and the doctor would have copies of the same prescription that would also include doctor's name, number and their registration number with the Order of Physicians.
The prescription would also serve as a legal document for consent between the doctor and the patient when they agreed to switch to generic medications, which would allow better control in the market of generic medications and put an end to possible corruption.
Speaking on another agreement, the health minister said Tuesday that he “asked the union head to speed the operation of organ donations.”
Currently, the donation mechanism requires the procedure to pass through the union before donations could be made, clarified Abu Faour.
The health minister also said that the union issued decisions over about 120 files that have been sent by both the Ministry of Health and the judiciary.
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