Set the deadline for implementing electronic prescription
According to Circular No. 26/2025 regulating prescriptions and prescriptions of pharmaceuticals and biological products for outpatient treatment at medical examination and treatment facilities effective from July 1, the Ministry of Health has "finalized" the deadline for hospitals to prescribe electronic drugs.
Accordingly, medical examination and treatment facilities with the form of hospitals must be implemented before October 1; all other medical examination and treatment facilities must be implemented before January 1, 2026.
Electronic prescriptions are understood as being made, displayed, signed, shared, and stored electronically, with legal value like paper prescriptions.
Thus, after many delays and proposals to postpone the deadline for hospitals to prescribe drugs electronically, the Ministry of Health has now "finalized" the implementation milestone.
Deploying electronic medical records requires electronic prescriptions
According to the Department of Medical Examination and Treatment Management (Ministry of Health), the time frame in this Circular 26/2025 is consistent with the requirement that all hospitals and infirmaries nationwide must deploy electronic medical records in September 2025 as prescribed by the Prime Minister.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Health, there are currently about 1,800 public and private hospitals nationwide, about 70,000 private clinics, but as of early April 2025, only more than 200 hospitals have converted from paper medical records to electronic medical records.
According to the Ministry of Health's request, from July 1, medical examination and treatment facilities are responsible for sending electronic prescriptions to the National Prescription System immediately after completing the examination and treatment process for outpatients or inpatients.
The hospital is also responsible for sending electronic prescriptions or electronic prescription codes to patients or patient representatives via electronic means according to the instructions of the Ministry of Health.
In reality, many medical facilities have now switched to electronic medical records but still have paper medical records in parallel. In addition, many hospitals use paper medical examination books (off-residence) and paper prescriptions in their books, because paper medical examination books with the prescriptions on them help patients conveniently track. However, in the future, hospitals will have to replace handwritten prescriptions with electronic prescriptions.
Many people believe that regulating hospitals to prescribe drugs electronically will help manage the sale of drugs according to prescriptions, ensure transparency of prescriptions, and safe use of drugs.
The electronic prescription of drugs applied to all hospitals is also expected to no longer have the image of the doctor on the prescription written with the handwriting the bad words "like rooster bitten", " Puzzling" patients, drug dealers and even medical staff.
