The Ministry of Health has just issued a circular regulating prescriptions and prescriptions for pharmaceuticals and biological products in outpatient treatment at medical examination and treatment facilities. More than 250 diseases will be prescribed outpatient drugs for 30 - 90 days, instead of just 30 days as before.
Common chronic diseases are treated with drugs for more than 30 days such as high blood pressure, diabetes, bronchitis, COPD, anxiety disorders, depression... to chronic hepatitis B, HIV/AIDS, hypothyroidism, laibular failure, Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, dementia, blood and immune diseases such as Thalassemia, some diseases such as breast cancer, thyroid cancer, gout...
Sharing about this new regulation, Dr. Vuong Anh Duong - Deputy Director of the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management, Ministry of Health said: For diseases in this List, the person prescribing the drug decides on the number of days of use of each drug in the prescription based on the clinical status, the patient's stable level to prescribe the drug with the maximum number of days of use of each drug not exceeding Ninety (90) days.
Thus, in the case where documents used as a basis for prescribing drugs such as drug use instructions, diagnosis and treatment instructions, and Vietnamese national pharmaceutical certificates do not have instructions on the number of days for drug use, the prescribing person has a basis to decide on a prescription of up to 90 days for the patient accordingly.
Add some cases of mandatory information in the prescription such as: Adjusting regulations on cases where patients go to many specialties for examination in one examination: The hospital decides on the prescribing person, ensuring that patients have only one prescription, safety (no overlap, drug interaction) and the effectiveness and reasonableness of the prescription.
Abandoning the medical examination book sample in the Circular, patients coming to the facility for examination or finishing inpatient treatment are prescribed a prescription and managed according to appropriate medical records.
Update new regulations according to the Law on Medical Examination and Treatment 2023 (such as the Prescription of drugs must comply with technical regulations issued or recognized by the Minister of Health; The use of drugs in medical examination and treatment must ensure the following principles: Prescribe the use of drugs when it is really necessary, for the right purpose, safe, reasonable and effective; The prescription of drugs must be consistent with the diagnosis of diseases and the patient's medical conditions) and the Law on Pharmacy amended and supplemented in 2024 (such as regulations on the treatment of addictive drugs, spirit drinks, and precursor drugs that have been sold/ored to patients but not used up or died).
The prescribing person needs to clearly state the number of uses each time and the number of uses per day, the number of days of drug use in the prescription for the patient.
Dr. Vuong Anh Duong said: Not all diseases are on the list of diseases, but medicine will be prescribed for more than 30 days. The doctor must carefully assess the condition of each patient before deciding on the number of days to prescribe the drug, it can be 30, 60 or 90 days.
The Circular also clearly stipulates that the prescribing person must be responsible before the law for their prescription, ensuring compliance with diagnosis, stable level of the disease and the ability of patients to monitor and treat themselves at home.
In case the medicine has not been used up but the disease progresses abnormally, or the patient cannot be re-examined on time, it is necessary to return to the medical facility for the doctor to assess and adjust the prescription if necessary.
With this new policy, it is hoped that millions of chronic patients will have less travel burden, save time and costs, and maintain long-term quality health care.
Extending the time for prescribing drugs for chronic patients is considered a breakthrough change, removing the inconveniences that have lasted for many years, especially for patients in remote areas, the elderly or people with difficulty traveling.
