Minister launches White Paper on medicines

Health Minister Godfrey Farrugia this morning launched a White Paper on the procurement of medicines by the government, their storage, and distribution in the Pharmacy of Your Choice Scheme. The document is entitled "Ensuring your rights to entitlement medicines at the time you require them." The launch was made at a San Gwann warehouse where the storage of medicine procured by the government will be stored. Dr Farrugia said the government was streamlining the ICT support process for more efficiency and transparency.  It was also changing the procurement process in an effort to remove the problem of out of stock medicines. Dr Farrugia expressed concerns about some patients taking a 'cocktail' of medicines which may be harmful to their health. Under the new IT logging system such patients could be detected and tackled, he said. He said doctors will be able to use an e-prescription system which will be linked to the POYC system, removing errors and ensuring sufficient medicines were available in the pharmacies needed them. The 'yellow cards' for free medicines, currently numbering 114,000, will be replaced with pin and chip cards for greater traceability and security. This, he...