Health Minister Adonis Georgiadis on Wednesday presented the first data emerging after the measures imposed by the health ministry to stop the over-prescription of medication.
Georgiadis spoke of “zero tolerance for over-prescribing” as a commitment to protect public health. “Let us stop the waste so that we can use the resources given to us by the public to ensure that patients are not short of the innovative treatments they need,” he added.
As he stated, this is “wasteful over-prescribing and ultimately theft. This money is not missed by the minister, it is missed by the citizens who are at risk of not having the medicines they need.”
Speaking of “theft”, Georgiadis listed some of the striking examples for over-prescription.
* One doctor in Gyfada, south Athens, prescribed hundreds of drugs using his mother social security number. Within a month, he issued over 220 prescriptions containing more than 1,000 different medications. After he was caught by the electronic check he will have to pay back to the National health Care organization 800,000 euros.
* Another one serving in a health center of the island of Lesvos was apparently dealing with statin and had prescribed three different medicament for decrease cholesterol in her 15-year-old daughter. She had also prescribed these drugs also to a second child of her family, to her husband and herself.
“I called her on the phone telling her I’m 53 years old and I get only one statin!” the minister recalled at a press conference. The doctor claimed the daughter was suffering from a rare disease and the over-prescription won’t happen again.
“I regret that there are doctors who, for their own benefit, over-prescribe,” the health minister said, while noting that this did not apply to all doctors. So far, over 100 doctors who over-prescribe have been identified to have prescribed more drugs than what is allowed by the system and have already been warned with informational notes, while severe penalties will be imposed if they do not comply with the new rules.
The minister presented in detail the types of suspect prescribing practices that had been identified, including:
- – Unusually large quantities of medicines, greater than normal for a course of treatment.
- – Prescribing medicines for a longer duration than normal
- – Frequent repeat prescriptions
- – Small quantities at each renewal, indicating possible overuse
- – Prescriptions filled at specific pharmacies
- – Prescriptions given to specific patients
The Minister stressed that strict penalties will await those doctors of the EOPYY who will over-prescribe drugs and those over 100 docs already identified have been excluded form the prescription system, he underlined.
Georgiadis reportedly estimated that the over-prescription recorded in the largest health organization of the country creates an excess in the expenditure of at least 50 million euros. He calculated that if it happens for a decade, the amount can reach 500 million euros.
It was only recently that investigation revealed that several doctors were using social security numbers of foreigners and in cooperation with pharmacists they would get the drugs to sell them – mostly abroad for a good profit. The practice is as old as the stones…
Electronic prescription was introduced in March 2020 during the pandemic to facilitate patients.
Four and a half years later, the same government takes shy steps to combat the exploitation of the prescription system and illegal profit out of drugs by certain doctors and pharmacists.
