Epress.am News from Armenia
Some Armenian citizens have already begun feeling the negative consequences of the newly amended law on prescription drugs; user Seda Badalyan namely wrote on Facebook that she has been unable to buy her medications despite possessing a proper prescription issued by her doctor.
“They told me [at the pharmacy] that according to the new law, the epicrisis should be taken to the local polyclinic, where they have to write in the names of the drugs on an appropriate form and put a seal on it. Only then it will be possible to buy the medications in the pharmacy. I went to the hospital today, asked for the epicrisis and took it to the polyclinic, where I had to knock on more than a dozen doors, wait in line for about 4 hours only to find out that ‘no one was authorized’ to give me the form. I finally ended up in the office of director Tereza Grigoryan, who gave me the following answer: ‘Girl, do you think our doctors are scribbles? Come and have them examine you and they will write you a prescription.’ With epicrisis in my hands, crying from pain and frustration, I again went to the hospital, where they told me to file a complaint or call the hotline because there was nothing they could do,” Badalyan wrote.
When contacted by Epress.am for comment, Health Ministry spokesperson Anahit Haytayan said she had been informed about the woman’s Facebook post: “I’ve had no time to look into the issue though. I’ve refereed it to our staffers; they will respond to it.”
Recall, according to the Armenian Health Ministry’s latest decision, a vast number of medications – including antibiotics, hormonal and codeine-containing medicines – will be sold by prescription only starting March 1.