Quarantine: they authorize the prescription and sale of medicines with digital prescriptions

In the framework of the mandatory social isolation decreed by the pandemic, the Ministry of Health of the Nation authorized this Wednesday the prescription and sale of medicines by presenting recipes in digital formats.

The decision was made official by Resolution 696/2020 and published in the Official bulletin. It applies, in principle, to the Buenos aires city and invites you to join other districts.

The prescription, as established in the measure, may be made “in the format of text message or messages through applications messaging via web, mail or fax“, while the oligatory quarantine measure lasts.

Covers medications piscotropic, oncological or for patients with chronic noncommunicable diseases (CNCDs) and “any other medicine used by prescription, excluding narcotic drugs”.

The fundamental objective of this provision is “to avoid breaking the mandatory preventive isolation and conglomeration of patients in the waiting rooms of hospitals and / or private offices to avoid viral circulation. ”

The selection of the pharmacy for the provision of the medicine “it will be the patient’s power” and remember that it must be close to the home where the isolation is carried out.

For those who still have recipes in paper format, they can use it in a 90 days from the date of prescription.

What the recipe should contain

To be valid it must meet some requirements:

– Have a recipe photo with the letterhead of the healthcare center or the prescribing professional in handwritten form or with a computer print or electronic prescription from the financer that allows identifying the prescribing professional.

-Comply with the provisions set forth in Law No. 25,649 of Promotion of the Use of Medicines by its Generic Name

-Be signed “in handwriting or with a digital signature, complying with the requirements of Law No. 25,506 in the appropriate case and be signed with the data of the professional or financier allowing the prescriber to be uniquely identified. “

-Count on stamp with name, surname and registration number of the professional, that if it does not appear on the letterhead because it is from a healthcare center, it must be legible. “This requirement will govern if it is signed digitally, even if it has letterhead as long as it does not appear as an epigraph in the digital recipe of the financier,” states the text of the resolution.

–Have a later date upon the entry into force of Decree No. 297/2020

-Contain the complete data of the patient to whom it is prescribed (name, surname and document)

-Include the legend “EMERGENCY RECIPE COVID -19”.

On the other hand, cannot be prescribed units that exceed chronic monthly treatment and it is expected that the validity “will not exceed SEVEN (7) days run from the day of prescription for presentation to the effective dispensation. “

Meanwhile, the professionals who carry them out must enable the registry called “Prescribing Book under COVID-19”, where they will place the data established in an annex to the resolution.