Selling antibiotics requires 100% prescription

The Ministry of Health requires that from 2020, all pharmacies and drugstores selling antibiotics must have a prescription.

The Ministry of Health has just issued a Plan to implement the Project to strengthen control of drug prescriptions and sale of prescription drugs in the period of 2017-2020, aiming to strengthen the implementation of legal regulations on drug prescriptions and sale of prescription drugs, contributing to reducing antibiotic resistance, drug abuse, and irrational use of drugs.

A drug store in Ho Chi Minh City. Illustration photo: Phuong Vy/VNA

The objective of the Project is to review and amend legal regulations related to prescription and sale of prescription drugs. At the same time, increase the rate of compliance with legal regulations on prescription drugs in outpatient treatment.

In particular, increase the rate of antibiotic sales requiring prescriptions. By 2020, 100% of drugstores and pharmacies selling antibiotics must have prescriptions.

In the 2017-2018 period, the Ministry of Health coordinated with the Department of Health to implement the Project in the provinces and cities of Nam Dinh, Vinh Phuc, Da Nang and Can Tho. Phase 2 from 2018 to 2020 will expand nationwide.

According to the survey results on the sale of antibiotics at drug retail establishments in the Northern provinces, awareness of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance among drug sellers as well as people is still low, especially in rural areas.

In urban areas, 88% of antibiotics are sold without a prescription, while in rural areas, this rate is 91%./.

According to VOV