BEIRUT: The Order of Physicians announced it would begin printing the new unified prescription form after the National Social Security Fund agreed to amend its bylaws, which represented the last obstacle to its implementation.
The announcement was made by Health Minister Wael Abu Faour and Antoine Boustani, head of the Beirut Order of Physicians, at a joint news conference Thursday following a meeting at the Health Ministry.
“During today’s meeting, we agreed on a mechanism by which the Order can begin printing the unified prescription form, now that the board of directors of the National Social Security Fund has made the decision [to amend its bylaws],” Abu Faour said.
Under legislation passed by Parliament in March 2010, patients, pharmacists, and health care providers will now all use the same prescription forms, which will include the names of doctors in addition to their telephone and registration numbers.
Officials hope the new forms will improve monitoring of restricted medications and help prevent their sale without a valid prescription.
Most importantly, the forms will document a patient’s legal consent if they decide to switch to a generic medication from a more expensive name-brand drug.
Medicine in Lebanon is among the most expensive in the region.
Although it backs the use of the forms, the Order of Physicians had argued that an amendment to the NSSF’s bylaws was necessary to properly implement the legislation.
Under Article 42 of the NSSF bylaws, a pharmacist is not allowed to provide a patient with a substitute for the medicine listed on a prescription. The article effectively prevented patients from switching to generic drugs.
The Order refused to start printing the forms until the NSSF amended this article.
Abu Faour said the NSSF board of directors would hold a perfunctory vote on the amendment next Thursday. “Following the decision by the board of directors, the unified prescription form is on the road to implementation.”
“This form will introduce major changes to the lives of Lebanese people, particularly patients,” Abu Faour said. “It will also bring a major change to the budgets of the Lebanese state and the country’s health care providers.”
The Order’s initial refusal to start printing the forms was a source of contention between the group and the health minister.
In a bid to pressure the group, Abu Faour ordered health care providers to halt the separate payment of doctors’ fees and hospital fees.
In line with a law passed by Parliament in 1994, the system was introduced to make it easier and faster for doctors to collect payment.
Under an earlier system providers paid the fees together, but physicians had complained that hospitals made their fees difficult to collect.
Abu Faour added that once Boustani informs him that the Order has actually started printing the forms, he will reverse his stance on the fees.
For his part, Boustani said “the summer cloud” in relations between the Order and Abu Faour had vanished now that the obstacle of the NSSF bylaws had been resolved.
Boustani stressed that the Order’s decision to begin printing the form did not come as a result of the minister’s pressure, but simply because the NSSF had finally agreed to make the changes.
Abu Faour dismissed claims that generic drugs in Lebanon were not of good quality. “This is a fabrication – a myth made up to undermine the [implementation of the] unified prescription form.”
Citing an announcement made Wednesday by Parliament’s Public Health, Labor and Social Affairs Committee, the health minister stated that all medications that are registered in Lebanon, including generic drugs, should be fully trusted.
No comments:
Post a Comment