Pharmacies were prohibited from connecting directly to drug distribution platforms
The Ministry of Health formulated the regulations for the provision of offline electronic prescription services in pharmacies, and according to that, the Food and Drug Organization must set up an online drug distribution system. Also, pharmacies applying for online drug distribution and drug transportation platforms must be connected to this system to send drugs.
According to Iran digital economy annotation, according to the regulations developed by the Ministry of Health, in order to be able to connect to this system, pharmacies must first receive approval from the Food and Drug Organization and then they will be allowed to use the system that will be announced by the organization. Accepting and supplying all types of prescription drugs and only electronic prescriptions in compliance with special regulations.
The organization should also set up a system for electronic acceptance of cancellations, and any information exchange, including registration of requests, payment, handling of complaints and other related processes, should be done through this system.
The Food and Drug Organization is responsible for the supervision of pharmacies, but in this regulation, it seems that its responsibility has been expanded and has entered into the supervision and decision-making for the way of drug distribution and the type of communication between pharmacies and users.
In order to receive offline services, users are allowed to receive services only through the national smart government service window or the smart service unit window of the Food and Drug Organization or a system announced by the Food and Drug Organization.
In December 2023, the Ministry of Health compiled the “executive regulations, rules and principles governing smart operators in the field of electronic health” and presented it to the digital economy working group for review and final approval. The complete form should be separated from this executive regulation and compiled in the form of another instruction.
In this note, which has been approved by the Council of Ministers, it is emphasized to provide the basis for the operationalization of drug distribution through internet businesses and platforms, and the Ministry of Health should act in such a way as to provide the possibility of competition between different businesses. In this regulation, there is no mention of creating an independent system by the Ministry of Health to connect businesses to it.
At that time, the Ministry of Health was required to compile and announce this regulation within 2 months, but the compilation of this regulation took more than a year and a half, and the scientific vice president, the digital economy working group, the first deputy of the presidency and the regulation board repeatedly They had warned the Ministry of Health for not fulfilling its legal duties, but the Ministry of Health declared that various institutions were interfering with its duties and finally proceeded to develop a regulation that is not only not in line with the primary goal foreseen in the regulation, but businesses does not satisfy.
The Ministry of Health and the Food and Drug Organization have repeatedly expressed their opposition to the activities of online drug distribution platforms over the past 2 years.
Now, in this regulation, it is emphasized that any order taking on the cancellation line, outside of the system paths that are supposed to be launched by the Food and Drug Organization, is prohibited in any way, and the perpetrator will be dealt with according to the legal standards and regulations.
Also, if the user announces the request to send the drug on the system, the pharmacy that received the patient’s electronic prescription through the organization’s system must notify the shipping intermediary companies about sending accepted orders online. Also, the pharmacy can use its own drug carrier to send the medicine, and in this case, the pharmacy will be responsible for paying the costs related to transportation.
According to this regulation, the information collected in the system belongs to the organization, and any management and storage of health information in any way by the transport intermediary companies is prohibited.
Also, the support of the system is fully at the disposal of the Food and Drug Organization, and in this instruction, the system is designed in such a way that the user’s payment for the drug first enters the Food and Drug Organization, and then it is paid to the pharmacy. According to this instruction, the funds obtained from the offline services of the pharmacy in the system are deposited to the account of the founder of the pharmacy and the transportation intermediary company independently within a maximum period of 72 working hours. Transport intermediary companies are not allowed to collect money directly from the user.
In this regulation, the conditions of drug distribution and drug distribution companies and the conditions of drug storage for distribution have also been clearly announced.
The implementation of this directive will weaken the businesses formed in the field of drug distribution. On the one hand, due to the concentration of information in one system, any disturbance in it will cause users to be interrupted from accessing the service.
The Ministry of Health has prepared the regulation and notified it to the pharmacies in the situation that the chairman of the digital economy working group in the 38th meeting of this working group, due to the fact that the Ministry of Health had not fulfilled its duties, obliged the steering committee of the digital economy to coordinate with the Ministry of Health. Determine how online drug distribution platforms work.
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