Maltese Doctors And Patients Distraught After Online Prescriptions For Medical Cannabis Suddenly Not Accepted
Medical cannabis clinics and pharmacies all over the island have just been informed that online prescriptions can no longer be accepted by pharmacists.
This was announced by The Chamber of Pharmacists, which directly informed cannabis clinics and doctors around the island that this practice is not allowed.
The Pain Clinic announced the recent development in a social media post, apologising for the inconvenience that will be caused due to this decision.
“Patients needing a repeat monthly prescription for medical cannabis now need to attend The Pain Clinic in person and have their control card signed by the doctor before they can go to the pharmacy to access their medicine,” it said in a Facebook post.
A doctor who spoke with Lovin Malta detailed how their patients have been calling them panicking all day, unsure of the issues that this will bring for them to access their prescriptions in an efficient way.
Online prescriptions had been introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic as a measure to avoid as much cross-contamination as possible through paper handling.
For private patients, doctors had been instructed to forward a photo or a scan of the prescription by email to the pharmacy indicated by the patient, with the pharmacist then dispensing the medicine and marking the white control card.
However, it turns out that this was not approved by the Superintendent of Public Health, an entire two years after the system was rolled out nationwide.
The fact that online prescriptions will not be accepted anymore means it will be harder for those with mobility struggles to access their monthly prescription, while also increasing paper usage and time wasted in traffic.
It also impacts those who work on a full-time basis and who have less time to physically get a prescription when this was easily and efficiently being done online.
This is far from the first time that Malta’s medical system has put medical cannabis patients as its last priority.
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