The Ministry of Economy together with the Ministry of Health launched a new tool that will allow patients to save significantly on the purchase of medicines. Now, when receiving an electronic prescription, citizens will be able to see the three cheapest options for the necessary drugs contained in the National Price Catalog, comparing their cost in real time.
This was reported by Yulia Sviridenko, informs the portal PromPolitInform.
According to the official, the main goal of the innovation is to ensure the availability of medicines for all segments of the population and overcome the monopoly of expensive brands. Information on the most profitable offers will be available to the patient through a special QR code printed on a paper memo to the e-prescription issued by the doctor.
By scanning the code, a person gets access to the list of all available drugs on the market with the same active substance, dosage and form of release, while the service automatically highlights three options at the lowest price.
An important advantage of the system is that the National Catalog sets maximum prices for medicines, above which pharmacies do not have the right to sell them.
Yulia Sviridenko assured that at least one of the three cheapest options will necessarily be available in any pharmacy chain. This will allow patients to consciously choose medicines in accordance with their own budget, without overpaying for the marketing name or brand recognition.
At the start of the project, the function will work for one-component prescription drugs in the form of tablets and capsules that citizens buy at their own expense. However, the government emphasizes that this is only the first stage – in the future, the possibility of comparing prices will be expanded to other categories of medicines.
The full version of the catalog is already available online, which allows everyone to get acquainted with the list of available funds and their maximum cost before visiting the pharmacy.
Photo – from open sources
