Video: It Must Be a Very Strong Headache to Get a Prescription - Pashinyan Jokes

During today's government meeting, a draft was presented that proposes issuing prescriptions electronically for medications provided free of charge or at discounted rates, including those with systemic effects such as antibacterial, antifungal, antimycobacterial, antiviral drugs, immune serums, immunoglobulins, vaccines, and medications containing misoprostol.

"This will lead to a decrease in self-medication, the provision of quality, effective, and targeted medical assistance, avoidance of unnecessary queues in medical organizations, increased awareness among the population, as well as improvement in the quality of medical assistance and services in medical organizations and elevated monitoring," said Deputy Health Minister Artak Jumayan.

He noted that this decision concerns 470 medications, of which 375 would be dispensed under preferential conditions, while 75 would be centralized. From March 1, these medications will be available through electronic prescriptions.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan inquired whether, at this stage, citizens will not solely rely on prescriptions to obtain medications from pharmacies, asking if there would still be medicines that people can buy freely. "Yes, you are correct. From the total number, we are closing about 20 percent of the list of medications that need to be dispensed with electronic prescriptions," said Artak Jumayan.

He clarified that under the proposed draft, starting January 1, 2025, all medications will be issued through electronic means. "By January 2025, another 2566 medication names will transition to being dispensed via electronic prescriptions," the deputy minister added.

He informed that there are a total of 3370 registered drug names, of which 2566 are required to be issued with a prescription, while the rest will remain available for free sale. "It must be a very strong headache for them to issue a prescription," Pashinyan joked.