Greece has joined Australia and a host of European countries by putting in place a law that requires Greeks to have a prescription before purchasing any antibiotics.
The provision, passed by the Ministry of Health passed in February, came into place on Thursday in Greece, with the Panhellenic Medical Association (PIS) describing it as “a win” of the medical world which took about 50 years to implement.
PIS said the law requiring a doctor’s prescription for the sale of drugs has existed since 1973, but it was often ignored.
The antibiotic prescriptions are now required by law to be processed electronically, stating the specific disease for which it is necessary to administer the drug as well as the dosage.
In exceptional cases where it is not possible to issue an electronic prescription, the handwritten prescription must contain all the details of the electronic prescription and especially the disease for which the administration of the specific is deemed necessary.
The provision was planned to be introduced in February, according to the Minister of Health Vassilis Kikilias, yet was delayed due the coronavirus pandemic.
According to an OECD report of 2017, Greece was the biggest consumer of antibiotics, with the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), also declaring that Greece uses double the amount of antibiotics in relation to the EU average.
