Requirements when dispensing prescription medicine
Prescription medicine can accidentally cause addiction when it is taken without the proper consultation of a medical doctor.
Pharmacists are permitted to give schedule one (S1) and two (S2) medicine, also known as over-the-counter medicine, to their clients.
According to a local pharmacist, that is where it stops, as schedule three (S3) and higher are a no-go for all pharmacists.
“This, according to the Pharmacy Act, is unlawful and should not be allowed,” he says.
Pharmacists must strictly keep within the boundaries of the Pharmacy Act and are governed accordingly.
The pharmacist says when people request medicine such as S3 and higher, a doctor’s prescription is required.
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“When we have a long patient/pharmacist relationship, and only in an emergency, we will help the patient out with approximately four S3 tablets until they can consult a doctor the next morning,” he says.
“Providing antibiotics, a schedule four (S4) and higher medicine is a definite no-go under all circumstances,” he says.
Although no prescription is needed for S1 and S2 medicines, they can only be purchased at a pharmacy.
“By law, pharmacists are required to write down the name of the patient and the name and quantity of the S1 and S2 medicine,” says the pharmacist.
Any S3 and higher medicine is prescription medicine.
A local doctor says that to get S3 to S8 medicine, you need a prescription.
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He explains that he only issues a prescription without seeing a patient if he knows the patient’s history and only under certain circumstances.
“I will prescribe sufficient blood pressure tablets for the time the patient is away from home,” he says.
A pharmaceutical outlet says their pharmacists stay strictly within the boundaries of the SA Pharmacy Act and will not hand out any S3 to S8 medicine without a prescription.
Scheduled medicine guide:
• S1 and S2 – antibacterial, cough and cold medicines
• S3 – Hypertension and diabetes
• S4 – Antibiotics and antivirals
• S5 – Sedatives and anti-depressants
• S6 – Narcotic painkillers
• S7 – Drugs like cannabis and heroin
• S8 – Amphetamine (stimulant), dexamphetamine (disorders) and nabilone (used in cancer chemotherapy).
