No decision on e-prescribing – Pharmacy Council of Jamaica

Council members – made up of pharmacists and pharmacy owners – have sought clarification from the governing body in light of the health ministry’s declaration that “electronic transmission of prescriptions is lawful”.

Debate has been intense here in Jamaica ever since the idea was floated about the prescribing and dispensing of prescriptions through electronic means.

In a nutshell according healthit.com: ‘With electronic prescribing, or “e-Prescribing,” health care providers can enter prescription information into a computer device – like a tablet, laptop, or desktop computer – and securely transmit the prescription to pharmacies using a special software program and connectivity to a transmission network. When a pharmacy receives a request, it can begin filling the medication right away.”

At the very heart of the debate are privacy and the protection of that private information shared between patient and doctor, and patient and pharmacist.

Presently, the PCJ stated, the Pharmacy Act and Regulations doesn’t “facilitate electronic generation and transmission of prescriptions” and though it has submitted its own recommendations as far back as 2016, a revised regulation is yet to be tabled in Parliament.

Hence the recent press statement from the health ministry on the matter has only served to obfuscate rather than add clarity to the discourse in the view of the PCJ members.

The dispensing of prescription via electronic means has become common practice in Jamaica, members continued to argue. However, what isn’t allowed under the Pharmacy Act and Regulations is the electronic generating and dispensing of prescription over a web-based portal. In other words it is generating a paperless prescription from doctor to patient to pharmacist through a secure channel.

How soon Jamaica will get to this stage, which is the case in most developed countries, no-one seems to know at this point despite the health ministry’s apparent eagerness without moving the central pillars that will take the country there.

In a recent bulletin to members, a copy of which Old Harbour News has seen, the PCJ stated that it “sought to meet with the MOH&W (Ministry of Health and Wellness). Unfortunately, two meetings were arranged then postponed by the ministry. The PCJ has taken a decision, at this time, to not issue any directive based on the press release as we continue to seek audience with the minister.

“Since 2016, the PCJ has submitted recommendations for amendments to the Pharmacy Act and Regulations to facilitate electronic generation and transmission of prescriptions. In 2020/2021, the PCJ spearheaded the formation of a multi-stakeholder electronic prescribing/dispensing advisory committee (EPDAC), which has done significant work on the way forward. However, the progress of the work done by the PCJ and the committee has been held up by both the legal/policy and procurement departments of the MOH&W.”

Going by the PCJ’s recent statement and by the look of how things remain at the moment, the ball is fully in the court of the health ministry to expedite the process of this very import matter with our privacy at the heart of it all.