Doctors surprised by introduction of prescription limits. They ask about the form of the order on the matter and call for withdrawal of the restrictions

According to Jakub Kosikowski, acting spokesman for the NIL, doctors are not aware of any regulation or legal act that would officially introduce the limits announced by the Minister of Health. Nevertheless, they have been in effect since Monday (3.07.). NIL has already been approached by several doctors and one clinic, where the problem of not being able to write another prescription has arisen.

- This was the case, for example, with a doctor who works in two dispensaries. In the afternoon, a notification popped up in his system that he had already filled too many prescriptions," says Jakub Kosikowski.

According to NIL, for now it is difficult to clearly assess whether the limits are sufficient for normal practice. However, the medical self-government is concerned that in the case of night and holiday health care (NPL), in primary care clinics in tourist destinations, as well as during periods of increased infections and in places facing doctor shortages, the limits may not be enough.

- It seems to us that they should be differentiated, depending on which entities the doctor works in. Other needs are associated with working only in a ward or outpatient clinic, and others for those who work in primary care clinics and then on duty in NPL. In such cases, a lot of prescriptions are written, and yet they are not prescribers," stresses Jakub Kosikowski.

The medical self-government declares that the community agrees that pathological activity must be excluded, but doctors believe that introducing restrictions as ordered by the Health Ministry is throwing the baby out with the bathwater. NIL proposes other solutions to the problem associated with the operation of prescribers.

- One such proposal is to make it mandatory to conduct the first visit to an entity live or by video consultation. Another is to set a percentage of visits that can be carried out in the form of teleprompting, a spokesman for the chamber explained.

President of the NRL Lukasz Jankowski has appealed to the Minister of Health to withdraw the limit on e-prescriptions. Below is the content of the letter:

Dear Minister,

in connection with the discovery of information about the introduction by the e-Health Center of limits on the issuance of e-prescriptions by doctors, which has also been confirmed by the Minister in the public space, I ask you to immediately clarify on what legal basis such a decision was made, as well as to draw consequences for those responsible for limiting the ability of doctors to practice their profession, and consequently for limiting patients' rights to health care services.

The Supreme Chamber of Physicians fully supports rational measures to regulate the market of commercial prescribing entities, the so-called prescribers. We have repeatedly proposed both systemic solutions to prevent the registration of such entities, as well as, for example, limiting the possibility of teleprescribing only to those who have had their first visit to the entity inpatient, or - in some specialties, such as psychiatry - with the use of tools that transmit video and audio in real time. However, these proposals were never discussed, let alone implemented.

The medical association strongly protests the restriction of patients' rights to health care services and the arbitrary determination of how a doctor can use tools such as e-prescription to provide assistance to the sick. We also demand the immediate withdrawal of the introduction of limits on prescriptions and the development of systemic solutions in consultation with the medical community.

Yours sincerely

President of the Supreme Medical Council

dr. Lukasz Jankowski