The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 267 No 7173 676-680
10 November 2001

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Letters to the Editor

Pharmacy in Europe

Belgium not quite there yet

From Mrs E. A. Stocks, MRPharmS

I read with interest the news feature concerning pharmacy across Europe (PJ, 13 October, p502), but believe that a slight correction is in order, living and working as I do in Belgium. The SIS card system mentioned is in place, but is far from being used in the manner suggested by the article. The SIS card is "read" at the pharmacy for the supply of prescribed medicines, at the appropriate price. Therein lies its only value at the moment: it allows us to encode the status of a patient's health insurance, but gives us no information at all concerning his or her medical dossier. For the powers that be, the SIS cards allow easier access to purchasing data, linked to national figures in a system which resembles the Prescription Pricing Authority database in Britain. So, we all hope that the SIS card will become more useful in the future, but we are far from that goal as yet.

E. A. Stocks
Brussels, Belgium

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