In a nutshell. Medexpress news digest - 4.04.2023.

Already within the next month, the Health Ministry wants to introduce a regulation that will restrict the activities of so-called "prescribers." It is likely that certain groups of drugs will not be allowed to be prescribed in this way. Doctors will also be subject to limits on their prescriptions. - In the case of psychotropic drugs, we will certainly seek to limit or even ban prescriptions in this manner. On the other hand, we want to rationalize the market's operating model in such a way that there will be some limits on the number of prescriptions issued per day by one doctor," Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Radio Plus.

The Presidium of the Supreme Medical Council calls for work to be undertaken to change the form in which the Medical Final Examination and the Medical-Dental Final Examination are conducted, as well as to initiate legislative work to introduce the necessary changes in this regard to the Law on the Profession of Physician and Dentist. The results of the Medical Final Examination and the Medical-Dental Final Examination indicate that the current formula of these exams does not fulfill the expected functions.

Speech therapists warn that a new law on certain medical professions could limit children and adolescents' access to speech therapy. The draft law adopted last week by the government regulating the terms and conditions of 17 medical professions sparked a violent protest from the speech therapy community. They point out that the speech therapy profession should be regulated by a separate law, as only about 15 percent of speech therapists in Poland work in the health service. Meanwhile, the effects of the proposed legislation will affect all speech therapists, most of whom work in educational institutions and private offices. The new law will cause them to suddenly lose the right to use their title unless they comply with the new law, which entails a number of costly obligations. As a result, this could lead to private practices closing down, leaving the profession, and thus reducing the availability of speech therapy.

Since April, residents of Kielce and the entire Swietokrzyskie province have had two new MRI labs at their disposal. Currently, there are 20 MR labs funded by the NFZ in the Świętokrzyskie province (including the new facilities). As Beata Szczepanek, spokesperson for the Świętokrzyskie branch of the NFZ, reminds, a referral is needed for the examination. There is no regionalization - the patient can choose any facility.