Cyprus Mail 30 July 2019 - article by Annette Chrysostomou
The Council of Ministers has approved amendments to the legislation on the sale and distribution of medicines under Gesy, it was announced on Tuesday.
The amendment allows the distribution of drugs from the public sector to private pharmacies in an effort to cover deficiencies until the market stabilises. Private pharmacies will be able to purchase these drugs from state-owned warehouses.
The decision was made in view of a request by both the pharmaceutical association and pharmaceutical manufacturers.
In addition, the Council of Ministers approved the proposal to extend prescriptions by specialised private-sector doctors for chronic patients suffering from illnesses related to gastroenterology, oncology, neurology, rheumatology and psychiatry.
They will be able to prescribe medicines for these patients as well as Gesy-affiliated doctors until the end of May 2020.
The announcement stressed these specialised drugs are not currently included in the outpatient medicines list.
When drugs are placed on the list they can only be prescribed by Gesy-affiliated doctors specialised in the above fields after the group of patients and the specialised doctors have been informed of their inclusion.
The medicines may be included in the list at any time before the second phase of Gesy starts in June 2020.
