Emirates ID will have to be presented by all patients who desire to have semi-controlled or controlled drugs, since starting this month, there will be introduced the latest medicine dispensing system. It has been launched with an objective to prevent prescribed controlled, narcotic and psychotropic drug abuse.
The Health & Prevention Ministry along with the Interior Ministry has developed the ‘Unified Electronic Platform’ referred to as the ‘OpenJet, which is to be rolled out throughout the country. According to the Dy. Director of Drug Dept., Dr. Fatima Murad Rahim, entire of UAE is to follow this single system, where medication amount will be tracked via the ID.
Patients are not likely to be provided with more medications than what is required from multiple pharmacies or doctors. The Emirates ID will have to be presented to the doctor by the patient that gets inserted into the reader. There will be prescribed refill and medication based upon the specific need and this prescription is likely to get recorded into the online system, thus linking all pharmacies spread throughout the country.
An anonymous pharmacist stated that the system introduced was quite similar to that one which is prevalent in the US. Dispensing of medicines is not allowed than what is required after the system gets entered with the prescription details.
Doctors, at times are likely to forget the quantity of medicines prescribed before. But now, on entering the card in the reader, the doctor can get the patient’s details in the system instantly, displaying clearly the amount prescribed and as to when follow-up dosage will be necessary.
It discourages patients to visit different pharmacies using same prescription.
The pharmacies will also not be in a position to fill up more than what is required, as it will get rejected by the system, by displaying it already had been taken earlier.
According to a senior Interior Ministry official, UAE reported minimum 45 deaths in the last 3 years because of medical drug misusage.
Anti-Drug Directorate General’s Dy. General, Brig. Saeed Al Suwaidi had stated earlier that during 2013, the number of casualties arising from medical drug usage was the highest at 27.