Why bother and get a whole package with 30 medicine pills when you need just 15? Innovation-ridden Health Minister of Greece, Andreas Loverdos, plans to change this bad habit. Pharmacies will keep drugs in jars and will hand out to patiens only the amount they need. The pharmacists will keep the drugs in jars. The eager to swallow the magic pills patients will go home and take the bitter medicine without knowing anything about the side effects. Unless the pharmacists will proceed to a verbal preaching about possible vomiting, nausea, hypertension, allergic reactions etc. over the counter.
A legal “hole” in the system of cutting health care expenditure? Probably. Because as a doctor explained to me recently, the side effects paper inside the medicine packages is a kind of agreement between the pharma company and the patient, who can’t sue the company afterwards for having suffered from the side effects.
Anyway, the Health Minister said that tons of unused drugs land in trash bins every year, and tons of drugs that expire land in the garbage as well. Andreas Loverdos claimed that the new system will help cutting expenditure in the pension funds. “The Americans do this, and it will help us to avoid throw drugs in the garbage” said the minister adding that the worth of unsued medicines is around one billion euro every year.
We can’t but admire the data bank of the Health Ministry and wonder whether there would be enough paper to wrap up the loose medicine. In times of austerity Greece has shortages in books and tax declarations sent by the tax offices due to paper shortage. I have no idea, what Loverdos has in mind with medicine in liquid form. Will the patient go to the pharmacy three times a day with his own spoon?
At the pharmacies of my neighborhood, there are banners with pictures of Loverdos, Koutroumanis (Labour & Social Security Funds minister) and Poul Thomsen (IMF). The banners read “These are the Gravediggers of Health”.
Putting them in a jar??? That must be a joke. Good one. 😆
I have been in a couple of countries where this system works perfect. Instead of the original side effects paper, you get a copy. And why not. And, apart from Third World countries, I have never had loose medicine in a piece of paper. Most is sealed anyway, but can be cut of easily.
So, it’s a good system which avoids ending up throwing away a lot of money.
Other measure is to not give medicine for chronic illnesses for 6 months or a year. Nothing wrong with bringing that down to 1 or 2 months doses.
But I guess the real problem was, until now, that bloody system with those stickers? Even on non-prescription stuff like Panadol. I always look in amazement at the paperwork the pharmacist has to perform for just one lousy packet of Panadol.
“Other measure is to not give medicine for chronic illnesses for 6 months or a year. Nothing wrong with bringing that down to 1 or 2 months doses” – what are you talking about???
Ok, that sounded bad. Sorry about that. 😳
I meant: sometimes people get 365 pills because they need to take one every day. And instead of giving them this whole quantity it is far better to give them, say, one month supply (30) at a time. The reason is: during a year the medication often has to change and then you are left with pills in your home that you can not use any-more, but that have been paid for by your insurance.
IKA writes max 3 months prescription for chronic-ill. No insurance fund prescribes for a whole year here.