"The Council of Ministers has adopted a major amendment to the Reimbursement Law," Deputy Health Minister Janusz Cieszynski announced on Twitter. However, a bill on free medicines for children and seniors over the age of 65 was removed from the agenda of the government meeting. - We will be implementing this law in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said.
A major amendment to the reimbursement law approved by the government. We will still have to wait for the expansion of access to free drugs
Published June 9, 2023 11:37
The draft adopted by the Council of Ministers is intended to respond to requests addressed to the Minister of Health from businesses present in the pharmaceutical market, patients and other social groups affected by the provisions of the 2011 law.
The regulation is also a response to demands for the introduction of mechanisms to increase Poland's drug security. The amendment is also intended to regulate anew the rules for general pharmacies to conduct on-call pharmacy services at night and on non-working days, as well as regulations for the electronic import of medicinal products.
The draft also includes, among other things, changes to pharmacy and wholesaler markups for reimbursed drugs and solutions related to sealing "pharmacy for the pharmacist."
"Today is a very important day for us. We have waited many years for this project. Will it succeed in solving at least some of our problems? We hope so," Marek Tomkow, vice president of the Supreme Pharmaceutical Council, wrote on Twitter.
Despite the original plans, the agenda for the meeting ultimately did not include the issue of expanding the list of free drugs to include children and people over 65.
- We will be implementing this law in the next few weeks. Right now it is still subject to additional analysis. In fact, we are still expanding its scope, adding medicines and improving it so that it is as beneficial to Poles as possible. In the near future we will still determine when it will be in effect: from September, October or January," Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said at a press conference after the government meeting.
