Prescribing a solution

13th January 2012

The government has moved to quell a row between it and the country’s doctors by watering down controversial legislation that had stoked the fires of rebellion in the ranks of medical professionals.

In an attempt to appease the disgruntled physicians the government struck down regulations that allowed for doctors to be punished if they failed to fill in a prescription correctly.

Under the new regulations, which came into force on January 1, doctors are obliged to state the value of the reimbursement for the medication patients are entitled to under the provisions of the health service. The doctors also have to check whether the patient has valid medical insurance or not.

Doctors had objected to the stipulations, saying that they bound them in yet more red tape, and that they lacked the necessary information to calculate the correct amount, and to see if the patient carried medical insurance. They also objected to provisions allowing for their punishment.

Such was their frustration with the law that many refused to fill in the prescriptions correctly, leading, in some cases, to pharmacists refusing to accept it, and to a standoff with the government.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk described the health ministry’s decision to ditch the punishment clause as a “quick response”, adding that he hoped it would ease tensions.

He added that although protests still continued they were, in his opinion, getting smaller.

The health ministry’s partial compromise has led to an uneasy truce between the two sides but the situation remains tense, and the government’s move did little to dispel an air of mistrust and confusion over the new regulations. The government has argued that filling in the prescriptions requires just a few clicks of a computer mouse: a claim disputed fiercely by physicians and their trade unions.

The dispute has continued to cause anxiety in patients. In some cases, if the pharmacist refuses to accept the prescription, they have failed to get the medication needed, while at other times pharmacies have played it safe and charged the full amount rather than the subsidised cost the patient was entitled to.