New regulations in pharmacies. 14 million Poles will feel the changes
Author: prepared by JKB • Source: Rynek Zdrowia • Published: May 30, 2025 19:00
The new regulations in pharmacies will cover about 14 million Poles. Patients will save time and will not have to return to the doctor to have their prescription refilled. Thanks to the changes, the pharmacist filling the prescription will be able to refill the missing code ("DZ" or "S").
- According to the provisions proposed in the amendment to the regulation on prescriptions, a pharmacist in a pharmacy will be able to refill a prescription issued by a doctor
- This applies to prescriptions that do not contain information about the right to free medicine for children and seniors.
- The person issuing the medicine will be able to verify these rights based on the PESEL number.
- However, the National Health Fund has expressed its doubts on this matter.
The draft amendment to the regulation on prescriptions has been submitted for review. The main goal is to introduce changes that will allow a person who fills a prescription in a pharmacy or pharmacy point to complete the entitlement code for free medicines :
- code "DZ" – for patients up to 18 years of age,
- code "S" – for people over 65 years of age.
Thus, the person dispensing the medicine will be able to verify these authorizations based on the PESEL number, which in the vast majority of cases results directly from the content of the prescription.
Thanks to this – as indicated by the Ministry of Health – the patient will be able to fill the prescription free of charge at a pharmacy or pharmacy point (after having the prescription refilled at the pharmacy), without the need for the person who issued it to correct it.
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will be able to correct prescriptions based on data on the patient's age on the prescription. In turn, the vice-president of the Supreme Pharmaceutical Council, Marian Witowski, explained that pharmacists will strive to ensure that when specifying the code on the prescription, the person issuing the medicine is not obliged to verify the reimbursement indications for that medicine.
Let us recall: from September 1, 2023, children and seniors (aged 65 and over) can receive free medicine that is on the list of the Minister of Health. A condition for receiving the medicine free of charge is also the diagnosis of a disease that is on the list for a given medicine.
Copyrighted material - reprint rules are specified in the regulations .
rynekzdrowia
