Khaberni - Published in the Official Gazette on Tuesday, the remote medicine dispensing and transfer instructions for the year 2025, issued pursuant to paragraph (d) of Article (14) of the Remote Medical and Healthcare System number (51) for the year 2023.
According to Article (3/a), these instructions apply to the dispensing or redispensing of medicine through a prescription prepared by the service provider, described and sent via the platform, and the dispensing or redispensing of materials allowed to be circulated in accordance with the provisions of the Medicine and Pharmacy Law.
Paragraph (b) of the same Article forbids remote dispensing of medicines requiring medical supervision upon administration and restricts their use to hospitals and health and medical centers, narcotic substances, mind-altering substances, narcotic preparations, and controlled-use medications.
Article (4) requires the pharmacy to have the necessary approvals to provide the service remotely in accordance with the provisions of the system and the instructions issued pursuant to it.
It is also required that remote dispensing of medicine be accompanied by a prescription that meets the medical prescription conditions from the institution and includes the generic or trade name of the medicine if it is one of the medicines that require a prescription according to the provisions of the related legislations.
Article (5/a) obliges the platform to transfer the service recipient's request to the geographically closest pharmacy to the delivery location, and to document the tracking of dispensing pharmaceutical drugs or preparations until they are received by the service recipient, as well as to document the name of the pharmacy, its geographic location, the responsible pharmacist, and the pharmacist who delivered the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation.
The platform is also obliged to document the name of the delivery service provider, its representative, the transport and distribution mediator used, and the date and time of receiving the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation from the pharmacy, and to document the name and geographic location of the service recipient, the name and status of the person receiving the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation and the date and time it was received, additionally documenting the names of contracted pharmacies and related information to be provided to the institution upon request, and documenting any notes upon receiving and delivering the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation, and naming one or more pharmacists for follow-up and coordination and providing the institution with their names and notifying it in case a replacement is named for any of them.
Moreover, paragraph (b) of Article (5) prohibits the platform, for the purposes of executing the provisions of the instructions, from advertising medicines for promotion purposes, contracting with pharmaceutical warehouses or private pharmacies, and illegal trade practices including monopolization.
The instructions oblige the operator to comply with the provisions of Articles (5), (9), (10), and (11) from the instructions on the mechanism of service provision and the creation and preservation of the medical file.
According to Article (6/a), the pharmacy is obliged to not dispense medicines or pharmaceutical preparations except through a pharmacist, and not to dispense medicines that require a prescription except after documenting them by the treating doctor and registering them in the patient's medical file and keeping a copy of it, in addition to preparing the medicines or pharmaceutical preparations by the responsible pharmacist, labeling them clearly with the name of the service recipient and the indications for the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation and administration method, placing them in the pharmacy bag, sealing the bag tightly, and clearly writing the name, address, and phone number of the service recipient on the bag.
According to paragraph (b) of the same article, the pharmacist has the right to refuse dispensing the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation provided the reasons are stated.
Article (7) states that the service recipient has the right to communicate with the pharmacist via electronic conversation to receive advice on the use of the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation and to choose alternatives for either.
Article (8/a) requires the approval of the institution for providing the delivery service, to be a delivery service provider whose one of the purposes is to provide drug delivery service, the pharmaceutical preparations, in addition to providing the technical conditions in the vehicles and transportation and distribution media that will be allocated for transporting and distributing the medicines and pharmaceutical preparations according to the provisions of Article (6) of the instructions on transferring, storing, and distributing pharmaceutical preparations and the technical specifications for their transport means.
Paragraph (b) of the same article obliges the delivery service provider, when providing the service, to document the delivery process and retain the records that document all related information and to provide them to the institution upon request, to comply with not advertising the medicines for promotion purposes, and to comply with the technical conditions for transporting the medicine and pharmaceutical preparations to ensure their quality and safety during the delivery, in addition to not exceeding the delivery duration of the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation to the service recipient beyond (24) hours from the time of receipt.
According to Article (9), the service recipient has the right to refuse receiving the medicines or pharmaceutical preparations and return them in case they are damaged, expired, or if a different medicine or medical preparation than requested or prescribed arrives, and the service recipient bears the transportation expenses of the medicine or pharmaceutical preparation except in the cases mentioned in paragraph (a) of this article.
According to Article (10) of the instructions, a committee shall be formed to supervise the procedures of remote dispensing and transferring of medicine at the institution by a decision from its general director, and its tasks and members shall be specified in the formation decision.
According to Article (11), anyone who violates the provisions of these instructions is subject to the penalties stipulated in the Public Health Law and the Medicine and Pharmacy Law.
