Ministry of Health’s excuse to evade legal duties / implement e-prescription plan reduces drug trafficking

Fars News Agency Health Group: Last week, the Minister of Health, Bahram Ainollahi, sent a letter to the President pointing out the obstacles to electronic prescribing and requesting an extension of the six-month deadline for the implementation of Note 17 of the Budget Law of 1400 in order to provide the necessary infrastructure for the implementation of the Ministry of Health. Has sent.

It should be noted that according to paragraphs K-Z of Note 17 of the Budget Law of 1400, all pharmaceutical companies and medical equipment and supplies and suppliers of health-oriented goods are obliged to complete and connect their systems to the monitoring system within the framework of criteria notified by the Food and Drug Administration. Control) Originality and drug tracking. Also, according to the Anti-Trafficking Headquarters, if by the end of December insurance companies do not make their services subject to inquiry from the Titek system, they will seize government funds and property and will be dealt with in accordance with the law.

According to Pedram Aslanifar; Health policy expert, “Health insurance organizations, social security and the armed forces implement the protocols of the Titek system to manage their costs, and the vast majority of the country’s population is covered by these insurances, but still the population of about 2 million people are covered by other insurances such as “Insurance is for banks, oil companies, municipalities and private insurers that do not use the capabilities of the Titek system.”

The reason why these insurances are not included in the inquiry scope of the Titek system is that, firstly; Due to the poor performance of the Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Administration in introducing the capabilities of the Titek system to manage the cost of pharmaceutical items to the said insurances, has caused the managers of these insurances still do not have enough information about the capabilities of this system to want to join. Secondly; Some of these insurances play a serious role in the import or consumption of smuggled drugs, which jeopardizes the interests of their managers and decision-makers if they join the TITK system.

We are waiting for the announcement of the readiness of the Ministry of Health!

Shahram Ghaffari, Director General of Indirect Treatment of the Social Security Organization, in an interview with a Fars News Agency health reporter, stated that all offices contracted by the Social Security Insurance use electronic prescriptions. Most of the private sector, which consists of 22,000 doctors, is using it.

He added: “If the Ministry of Health announces its readiness for government doctors to use the electronic version, this process will be implemented for them as well.”

Ghaffari, referring to the legal deadline of the Ministry of Health to complete its duties regarding electronic health records until the beginning of December, said: Increase 1400.

There is no problem with the infrastructure required for electronic copywriting

The Director General of Indirect Treatment of the Social Security Organization, stating that it is necessary to add the public sector to the scope of inquiries of the Titek system, said: In March of last year, about 270 billion tomans were paid to university centers to provide electronic prescription requirements; But the Corona crisis and the problem of universal vaccination seem to have slowed down the launch of the electronic version.

Ghaffari, in response to the claim that the electronic prescription infrastructure is not available and there are cultural problems for its use in some cities, said: “Any part of the country that has the ability to connect to the Internet can use electronic prescription; Of course, there are examples of these villages or cities; However, it is possible for the Social Security Administration to obtain a prescription for any office that uses this process.

Regarding the problems related to the culture of using systemic processes, he said: “There is no problem on the part of the patient in using the electronic version; Because it does not matter for the patient to receive the medicine by prescription or by presenting the national code to the pharmacy. It seems that in order to carry out the electronic prescription process, doctors must cooperate.

Full implementation of the e-prescription plan will reduce drug trafficking

The Director General of Indirect Treatment of the Social Security Organization, referring to the need to strengthen the telecommunications infrastructure in the country, said: “Increased problems related to the electronic version of the system or Internet problems will cause people to protest and in this case it is necessary to strengthen and improve telecommunications infrastructure.”

Ghaffari, referring to the benefits of implementing electronic prescription for the country, said: “The realization of this will cause the management of drug use and patients’ drug needs to be accurately identified, as well as through the use of data mining techniques, trends, renewal pattern and consumption pattern. Prevent drug trafficking.

He added: “These events will eventually lead to the creation of a complete and comprehensive electronic file for patients and the monitoring of diseases and prescribed drugs can be done easily.”

Ghaffari pointed out: “Now that paper prescriptions in pharmacies and laboratories are becoming mechanized prescriptions, it is better for this process to be done electronically by doctors from the beginning, and its realization will ultimately benefit the medical community.”

The Director General of Indirect Treatment of the Social Security Organization, expressing hope that the electronic file will be realized as soon as possible, added: it is expected that the hospitals will install the software and system related to electronic prescription after 2 years; Otherwise, they should be criticized.

Failure to perform legal duties by the Ministry of Health is not acceptable

According to Fars, despite the fact that the issue of interception and monitoring of pharmaceutical items through surveillance systems is already in paragraph c of Article 7 of the Law on Permanent Provisions of the Development Plan approved in 1392 and Note 4 of Article 18 of the Law on Combating Commodity and Currency Smuggling announced in 1398 , Was emphasized. Unfortunately, over the years, the Titek system has not been completed and the supply and distribution chain of drugs is still incompletely monitored due to violations by health centers and hospital pharmacies.

According to the spokesman of the Anti-Trafficking Headquarters, the issue of making any provision of insurance services conditional on inquiry into the authenticity of the Titek system has been one of the important tasks of the Ministry of Health in creating transparency in the field of health and treatment; But this is only done in the field of outpatient pharmaceutical items by basic insurance and for about 600 items out of 1000 generic items. In the field of hospital-related pharmaceutical items, which have a much higher value, the stage of making the provision of insurance services uncontrolled has not been controlled at all, and in fact nothing has been done.

Some health policy experts believe that the Ministry of Health is evading its legal duties under the pretext of the spread of the coronavirus, as well as claiming that there is no infrastructure to run electronic prescriptions and files.

It is noteworthy that the Minister of Health in his recent letter to the President has said that fulfilling the legal duties of paragraph 17 of Note 17 of the Budget Law of 1400 will disrupt the system of providing health services and increase financial pressure on the people! However, the unacceptable delay of this ministry in implementing the electronic prescription plan and completing the Titek system in the past years has not only increased the smuggling of drugs and the supply of drugs outside the network in the black market; Rather, it has played a key role in creating disruption in the provision of health services to compatriots.

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