Change in the sale of medicines: the photo of the prescriptions can no longer be sent to pharmacies by mail or WhatsApp

The Ministry of Health invalidated the photos of medical prescriptions sent by email or WhatsApp to request treatment at pharmacies. The measure, which has been in force since Monday, was published in the Official Gazette. 

Yes, those digital recipes that comply with the digital signature established by national law 27,553, approved in July 2020, continue to be valid.

Resolution 3622/2022 that came into force this Monday repealed resolution 696/20 of March 31, 2020, which enabled the presentation of prescriptions at the pharmacy in text message or message format "through web messaging applications , mail or fax", indicated the text.

Due to the expansion of the health emergency established by Law No. 27,541, modifications were authorized in the prescription and dispensing of psychotropic or other medications for the care of chronic and possibly acute pathologies while the emergency lasts.

In this way, the repealed resolution allowed the medical prescription to be presented at the pharmacy "so that the patient does not have to go to the health center or hospital to renew the prescription for chronic medications and/or any other medication that they regularly use ".

The text considered that, based on the advance in vaccination coverage, "the incidence of serious illness and mortality from Covid-19 has been considerably reduced, regardless of the circulating variant."

Likewise, the impact of the coronavirus in 2022 "occurs within the framework of a population with high vaccination coverage", and where "the occupation of intensive care beds by Covid-19, all the provinces are below 78% of occupation".

In relation to vaccination coverage, the Bulletin stated that, from the beginning of the national vaccination campaign for Covid-19 until December 19, 2022, "coverage of 82% was achieved in the general population and 86.1% in older than 3 years with primary scheme".

In July 2020, the Senate unanimously approved the law that regulates digital prescriptions. The norm arose from the unification of seven different projects and enabled doctors to prescribe all kinds of medicines electronically and pharmacies will be able to dispense them. It also authorizes telecare, motivated by the coronavirus pandemic.

In dialogue with Clarín, Arnaldo Casiró, director of the GCBA's Center for Medical Specialties No. 1, assesses that the measure is correct because many patients stopped going to the doctor to be checked, taking advantage of the convenience of having the prescription by electronic means, such as mail or the Whatsapp. "In most cases, the patient must be monitored, and in acute illnesses it is important that it be diagnosed by medical examination," he stresses.

In the same frame of mind, Rubén Solari, head of the Muñiz Hospital unit, analyzes: “Although it was practical for both parties, there was an abusive demand for benefits. Even, in some circumstances, it was uncontrolled and without recognition of fees to professionals by social or prepaid works. El Pami has an electronic prescription issuance system with digital signature which should be taken as an example" .

“Making a prescription implies a medical act. We are doctors and not mere prescribers”, says Elena Obieta, an infectious disease doctor.

For the epidemiologist Carlos Di Pietrantonio it is a measure that sooner or later was going to emerge. “It was logical that it was imposed because it was not regulated how its use and application should be. The methodology of photographing a recipe suffers from many security flaws. It is very simple to delete what is written to change the indication, for example. Actually, it is a photographed recipe and not a digital one which has a registered electronic signature (some have a token).

For his part, Roberto Debbag, president of the Latin American Society of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, maintains: “Today, without restrictions, one should comply with international safety regulations on what is called electronic prescription. The digital health that contemplates telemedicine and virtual recipes is not a WhatsApp photo. I think that this restriction is appropriate as long as all the other mechanisms that exist for electronic prescriptions are implemented.

However, Lautaro De Vedia, president of the Argentine Society of Infectious Diseases (SADI), does not understand the reason for the measure. “It seems like a bad decision to me because it was an excellent tool, extremely useful for both patients and doctors,” he says.

Martin Stryjewski, Head of Hospitalization at CEMIC, considers: “They had been authorized due to the Covid Emergency. It is noteworthy that it was absolutely practical and should be maintained, but perhaps it should be done through a new law. Thus, all professionals should have a certified digital signature, which requires a validation process, to be able to prescribe online".

However, he warns that for them, pharmacies and retailers should have access to said database in order to verify. "The photos were very practical but not at all safe. It has been shown to be useful, but it needs to be implemented seriously," she concludes.

From the political sphere, the deputy Graciela Ocaña opined on her Instagram that the measure is "a setback that makes life more difficult not only for those who suffer from chronic pathologies but for all patients in general."

Electronic or digital prescriptions are regulated by Law 27,553. Within the Pami system, an electronic prescription can be issued directly to the pharmacy, without the need for the patient to pick it up in paper format.

The digital prescription is the one used, for example, in the GCBA effectors and in many private institutions. “The doctor writes a prescription that remains in a Clinical Record to which all the specialists who care for that patient within each system can enter. And that prescription in the GCBA goes directly to the establishment's pharmacy, where the patient picks up the medication”, Casiró explains to Clarín.

"The pharmacist recognizes in PAMI which are the medicines that he is authorized to sell electronically and each doctor is registered. Through the patient's affiliate number, the pharmacist searches for the medicine that his GP assigned him through a digital signature On the other hand, for the prepaid ones, one had to write the prescription with the Covid 19 emergency slogan, take a photo of it and send it to the patient's WhatsApp, who would print it out to present at the pharmacy," reports Di Pietrantonio.

PS

Through the patient's affiliate number, the pharmacist searches for the medicine that his GP assigned him through a digital signature On the other hand, for the prepaid ones, one had to write the prescription with the Covid 19 emergency slogan, take a photo of it and send it to the patient's WhatsApp, who would print it out to present at the pharmacy," reports Di Pietrantonio.