The Working Group on the implementation of the regulatory guillotine in the healthcare sector considered the ways to improve the rules for the supply of medicines. The Russian Ministry of Health has to develop a roadmap for the establishment of the drug supply system within a yearhttps://www.facebook.com/100001004364269/posts/4506647856045315/?d=n, Alexander Saversky, Chairman of the League for Patient Protection, wrote on his Facebook page.
He said that the issue of approving the procedure for dispensing medicines was considered at the meeting of the group. In particular, they discussed the provision according to which a patient who has a preferential prescription has to be provided the drug within two to fifteen days.
“The issue that was discussed with the participation of Sergey Glagolev, Deputy Minister of Health, seems to be a technical one: it is the approval of the procedure for the supply of medicines. It also includes a clause stating that medicines (prescribed by the decision of the medical board. – GxP News) are provided on prescriptions within 2 to 15 days (as a result of the negotiations, the upper limit was reduced to 10),” Saversky wrote.
The Chairman of the League for Patient Protection noted that this paragraph caused sharp criticism from both the medical and patient communities. He supported Leonid Roshal, President of the National Medical Chamber, who said: “It is impossible to treat people when drugs, even emergency drugs, are supplied with a two-day delay.” According to experts, the system needs to be changed.
“From the moment when a person falls ill, and even more so when they are diagnosed and receive a prescription, such person, as a citizen, has a constitutional right for medical care, including the right to drug supply according to standards and clinical recommendations. This means that the procedure in the norm under discussion contradicts the Constitution of the Russian Federation, because a person cannot receive the necessary medical care while they are waiting for drug supply for the time specified in the procedure,” Saversky explained.
The Working Group voted for giving the Ministry of Health a year to create a roadmap for the development of the drug supply system, so that the disputed procedure remains in force for only one year.
“That is, in a year the provisions must be revised, and tough decisions may have to be taken,” Saversky writes. He recalled that in 2010, the Ministry of Health adopted the Drug Supply Strategy, but it was not implemented properly.