Health Min Georgiadis amendment in Parliament to avoid uncontrolled prescription of medicines

A control mechanism to prevent the uncontrolled prescription of medicines not approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) is being institutionalized by the Ministry of Health.

Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis informed the Hellenic Parliament about the regulation, emphasizing that it is our absolute responsibility to manage the money that the Greek people are striving to gather from pharmaceutical expenditure with the utmost efficiency and responsibility.

A non-remunerated control committee for these medicines is now being established, comprising 15 members – 11 doctors of different specialties, two pharmacists from the National Organisation for the Provision of Health Services (EOPYY), and two health economists. When a doctor prescribes a medication that is not approved by the EMA and prescribes it off-label, then this prescription is reviewed by that committee.

The doctor who prescribes the medication must demonstrate to his colleagues why he believes that this medication should indeed be administered to the particular patient and if the committee deems it appropriate then reimbursement by EOPYY follows.