S.L. 101.2 Art. 6Prescription for drugs.

(1) Every manual prescription for the supply of the drugs shall be written in ink or in other indelible material on the form set out in the First Schedule to these Rules. In the case of computer generated prescriptions and eprescriptions, the medical practitioner shall use the official prescription as approved by the Superintendent of Public

Health.

(2) A medical practitioner issuing a prescription for drugs shall fill in a clear and legible hand Part A of the form set out in the First Schedule, and to supply all the details and give all the information (including additional information in the case of prescriptions for methadone or for any salt or ester thereof); the medical practitioner shall further add his signature in full and the date when the prescription was issued: Provided that in the case of a medical practitioner authorised to practise the medical profession under article 4 of the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance but who is not yet registered with the Medical Council, such practitioner shall insert the number given to him by the Superintendent of Public Health instead of the Medical Council registration number on the said prescription.

(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-rule (11) of this rule, no medical practitioner shall issue a prescription for the supply of the drugs unless the prescription complies with the provisions of sub-rules (1) and (2) of this rule, and unless the drugs are required for the purpose of medical treatment: Provided that a medical practitioner may, subject to the other provisions of these Rules, issue a prescription for professional use for an amount not in excess of ten phials for injection or of twenty tablets or capsules: Provided further that -

(i) in the case of a dental surgeon or a dentist a prescription may only be issued for the purposes of dental treatment and such prescription shall be marked "for dental treatment only"; and

(ii) in the case of a veterinary surgeon a prescription shall only be issued for the purposes of treatment of animals and shall be marked "for animal treatment only".

(4) Every medical practitioner who obtains the drugs for professional use as provided for in the first proviso to sub-rule (3), shall keep, in accordance with, and without prejudice to the provisions of rule 11, a record in an appropriate register, of the name and surname, the age and address of the patient to whom the drug has been administered and the date of administration and the medical indication for administering the drug.

(5) No medical practitioner shall issue a prescription for the drugs to any person unless such person is well known to him or unless the medical practitioner has ascertained the identity of such person through a legally valid identification document.

(6) No medical practitioner shall issue a prescription for the drugs to any person unless the said medical practitioner has taken reasonably sufficient steps to ascertain that such person is not at the time of issuing the prescription, receiving treatment from another medical practitioner in respect of addiction to any of the drugs or otherwise, and that such person has not been supplied with any of such drugs on a prescription issued by that other medical practitioner.

(7) A medical practitioner shall use a separate form in respect of every drug prescribed by him under these Rules, and no drug other than a drug to which the provisions of the Ordinance or of the Drugs (Control) Regulations, apply, may be prescribed on these forms.

(8) When issuing a manual prescription a medical practitioner shall in prescribing the drugs use only prescription forms from the booklets of forms in serial number issued to him by the Superintendent of Public Health upon a request made on the form set out in the First Schedule and it shall be the duty of a medical practitioner, whether for the purpose of his private practice or for carrying out his duties in an official capacity as a result of his employment with Government, with a view to meeting the needs of his patients, to make a request for such prescription booklets on the said form; such request form shall be correctly filled in all respects and signed by the practitioner, and shall be either handed in personally to the Chief Pharmacist at the Government Medical Stores, Gwardamangia or sent by post to the Superintendent of Public Health at the Department of Health in Valletta; when sent by post the envelope may be marked "Public Health Notifications" for the purpose of exemption from postage.

(9) It shall be the duty of a medical practitioner to report in writing forthwith to the Superintendent of Public Health any case of theft or loss of such booklet or unauthorised access to his electronic profile, and it shall not be lawful for a medical practitioner to use any prescription form from any booklet of forms issued to another medical practitioner, or issue computer generated prescriptions or eprescriptions from the electronic profile of another medical practitioner.

(10) For the purpose of this rule, the expression "medical practitioner" includes a dental surgeon, a dentist and a veterinary surgeon.

(11) The provisions of sub-rules (1), (2), (7), (8) and (9) shall not apply to the prescription of the drugs for administration to ward patients in Government hospitals, which prescription shall be controlled by the hospital internal rules.