Estonia has become the first country whose citizens can purchase medicines in Finland with an electronic prescription issued in their home country. This is a change that the authorities want to be gradually implemented in several other European countries.
The Finnish Social Security Institution (Kela) reported that Estonian e-prescriptions are now accepted in all pharmacies in Finland.
In order to purchase the medicines, the customer must visit the pharmacy in person and show an identification document with a photo.
“Even at the present time there are Estonian citizens in Finland, for example, due to their work, who may need to use prescriptions issued in their home country,” says Customer Relations Manager Sini Palo from Kela’s Kanta Services.
Kela expects that this service will be "even more useful for Estonian citizens when travel between the two countries returns to normal."
Since last year, it has been possible to use a Finnish e-prescription for purchasing medicines in Estonia and Croatia.
“Even at the present time, medicines are dispensed in Estonia with Finnish prescriptions almost on a daily basis. Before the borders were closed, the number was about 20 per day,” Sini Palo says.
Restrictions
However, the authorities have imposed some restrictions on this mechanism.
According to Kela, it is not possible to buy narcotic medicines or certain medicinal products mainly having an impact on the central nervous system in Finland with an Estonian prescription. The pharmacy dispenses the medication according to Finnish legislation.
European e-prescriptions will become more widely available in stages
Several European countries have now expressed their interest in the service. Currently, Portugal, Sweden, Poland, Ireland and the Czech Republic are preparing to deploy the service.
Every country decides on its own deployment schedule.
