No more medicines without prescriptions from October 19

Pharmacists who will sell drugs without medical prescriptions will be fined 20 to 60 conventional units, or 400 to 1200 lei, stated Minister of Health Andrei Usatii. Speaking at a news conference on Wednesday, he informed that the order to this effect will enter in force on October 19 when it is published in the official gazette. The Minister said that only 1752 out of the 6124 medicines on the Moldovan market will be sold over the counter. These include the aspirin, acetaminophen, some basic pain killers and others. The full list is available on the official website of the Medicine Agency. All antibiotics will need a prescription. In order to prevent people from using the prescription multiple times in different drugstores, the prescription will be annulled or seized by pharmacists after it is used to purchase the medicines. A commission of the Ministry of Health will supervise compliance with the order. Andrei Usatii said that there are enough general practitioners in Chisinau to prescribe the people the medicines they need. If there aren’t doctors in some settlements, the Ministry will fill in the vacant positions.