“The state promised to have electronic prescriptions by December 18th. Yes, this is now a fact," said Deputy Minister of Health Zheni Nacheva at the official presentation of the electronic prescription system. She clarified that electronic prescriptions do not exclude physical examinations by general practitioners. "The electronic prescription supports the work of doctors and pharmacies. It is a tool that facilitates patients and additionally allows for very clear information about all electronically prescribed medications. Once the information is recorded in this way, it cannot be changed, modified, or altered over time in terms of scope and content." Nacheva explained that exceptions will be made for certain patients: "The only cases where the presence of a patient in the general practitioner's office is not required when issuing an electronic prescription are related to COVID-19 illness or the patient's presence in a hospital. However, do not associate the issuance of an electronic prescription with the cessation of treatment and visits to general practitioners' offices."

She also mentioned that pharmacists will not have access to information related to the general medical condition of patients. The only information they will have access to is the prescription itself and the medications prescribed for the respective patient.

Stickers will indicate to citizens which medical laboratories, diagnostic and consultative centers, and pharmacies work with electronic referrals and prescriptions.

The electronic prescription will become mandatory only after the necessary transition period. "As with any new beginning, we do not want to create confusion in the system. We want to give the necessary period for everyone to adjust their systems in the required manner to work exclusively electronically," explained the Deputy Minister.

"What we had to do, namely to provide the centralized module – the key to the system that allows the issuance of electronic prescriptions, has been done. From now on, we call on software companies to engage in this process. Currently, we have over 5 pharmacy chains, more than 3 software companies servicing general practitioners' software, and 2 software companies servicing pharmacy and general practitioners' software nationwide involved in this process," Nacheva said.

In less than 2 weeks, 50% of general practitioners who can issue electronic referrals have been covered. The expectation is that by the end of the year, the remaining general practitioners will also be able to issue electronic referrals.