Contrary to the statements of the Minister of Health, online health platforms have not directly sold medicine and play the role of an intermediary between the pharmacy and the patient
According to the Iran digital economy annotation, While the Scientific Vice-Chancellor, the Digital Economy Working Group, the Deregulation Board and the Parliament emphasize on providing conditions for the online distribution of medicine, the Ministry of Health still insists on its opposition. In new words, the Minister of Health emphasized that the ministry under his command recognizes only “pharmacy” as a legal authority for buying and selling drugs.
Bahram Einollahi, the Minister of Health, stated: “We consider a pharmacy responsible for the purchase and sale of drugs. The pharmacy can deliver its medicines to people who have a prescription both virtually and in person. We do not allow anyone except the pharmacy. There is a pharmacist in the pharmacy and he accepts the prescription of the drug, the interaction of the drug and the risks related to the drug.”
According to him, in a situation where a person has a serious illness and cannot go to the pharmacy in person, he can coordinate with the pharmacy near his place of residence and get the medicine by courier. Einullahi emphasized that the Ministry of Health does not accept anything other than this issue.
These words are raised by the Minister of Health while online platforms have also taken over the responsibility of drug delivery and do not sell drugs directly. They act as an intermediary between the pharmacy and the patient, and after the pharmacy approves the patient’s prescription, they deliver the delivered drugs to the patient.
The opposition of the Ministry of Health against the wishes of several government institutions is interesting in its own way. In July of last year, the Scientific Vice-Chancellor made a resolution regarding the online sale of drugs in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, which was approved by the Council of Ministers. According to this resolution, a two-month deadline was given to the Ministry of Health to formulate a guideline in this regard; But this did not happen.
A year later, the Presidential Legal Department entered into this issue and in July this year asked the Ministry of Health to formulate as soon as possible the guidelines for the operationalization of drug distribution through health-oriented platforms; But again, the Ministry of Health did not agree to this.
Then it was the turn of the deregulation board, and this body approved in September that online platforms in the health sector, which have already been licensed, do not need a license to distribute drugs under other conditions. This resolution was also opposed by the Food and Drug Organization, and the first vice president in the market regulation headquarters ordered its cancellation.
Recently, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Health, the Commission on Article 90 of the Parliament criticized the lack of formulation of guidelines for the online distribution of drugs. The MPs warned the Minister of Health that the commission’s suspension case is being completed for him, and if the four-month deadline of the deregulation board expires and the task is not determined, the Commission’s executive guarantee of Article 90 will be activated.
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