Since March 2020, to minimize the risk of contamination in doctor’s practices due to the corona pandemic, a telephone call to the general practitioner to write prescriptions has been sufficient. He will pass this on directly to the pharmacies, where you can pick it up on presentation of your e-card. But that seems to be over soon, according to a letter from the Medical Association to its members…
Contactless, fast and unbureaucratic prescription (e-medication, e-prescription) was last extended until 31 December at the beginning of July. But that should be over by the end of the year.
“We would now like to point out in good time that this temporary legal exemption for access to ELGA (e-medication, e-assessment) and e-vaccination card via the e-card system without an e-card slot will expire on December 31. , 2022. From January 1, 2023, access to ELGA (and therefore also registrations in the e-vaccination pass) via the e-card system requires the insertion of an e-card again. Otherwise access is not possible’, says a letter from the Medical Association to its members – and in the same terms on the website of the Vienna Medical Association.
The ELGA health portal of the Ministry of Health did not yet know about the imminent end of access to ELGA without entering the patient’s e-card when krone.at called and referred to the press office of the umbrella organization of social insurance, where no one could be reached by telephone on Friday afternoon.
Patients have to make another pilgrimage to the doctor
Discontinuing prescriptions by phone means that patients (including those on long-term medication) will have to make the pilgrimage to the doctor again and pick up their prescriptions in person. Which is counterproductive in times of Corona and given the flu wave that is currently hitting Austria – earlier than usual – with great force.
The doctors complain that more people are going to romp in the already overcrowded practices, which leads to longer waiting times for patients and a higher risk of infection. In addition, people with limited mobility or elderly, frail people have to struggle to get a prescription from a doctor, a doctor criticizes krone.at.
Source: Krone
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