Dispensing drugs through text or KakaoTalk illegal

regarded as dispensing drugs in advance

“It is illegal under the current law to dispense prescriptions after receiving photos of prescriptions"

“The act of ordering, delivering, and selling medicines should be done on-site at the pharmacy.”

If a patient takes a picture of his or her prescription and sends it via KakaoTalk or text message to the pharmacist, is it legal or illegal to dispense the drug?

 

To Korean Pharmaceutical Association’s question, the Ministry of Health and Welfare recently replied that “Although the situation may differ by case, even with the patient’s consent, sending a prescription recorded on the patient’s mobile phone to the pharmacy and using it to prefill prescriptions in advance is not allowed under the current law unless there are special circumstances.

 

The MOHW said, “According to the Supreme Court ruling and the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, it is advised that drugs be ordered, delivered, and sold in pharmacies.

 

Pharmacists must fill and dispense drugs according to prescriptions legally issued to patients under the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act and the Medical Service Act.” The MOHW added, “Pharmacists should receive the original prescription form from the patient and dispense the prescription after confirming the authenticity of the prescription and that the visitor is the patient or guardian of the patient specified the prescription." The issue arose with some pharmacies receiving a picture of a prescription through a pharmacist's personal cell phone or KakaoTalk message for dispensing.

 

In other words, there were cases where patients voluntarily send a picture of their prescription using a text message or KakaoTalk to a pharmacist without any company intervention, and then visits the pharmacy with their paper prescription to receive the medicine.

 

It is a sort of pre-booking system between patients and pharmacies.” This allows pharmacies extra time to fill long-term prescriptions for those that exceed 90 days while reducing the waiting time for the patients.

 

Many have countered that there was nothing wrong with such acts as Kiosk-type prescription transmission between large hospitals and pharmacies is common.

 

However, controversy is expected on-site with the MOHW concluding that it is illegal to send pictures of the prescriptions.