Gynecologist Erofeeva: the situation with purchasing emergency contraceptives has become more complicated
From September 1, 2024, mifepristone and misoprostol, which are used for artificial termination of pregnancy, are subject to item-by-item accounting (IQA). Along with abortion pills, emergency contraception with mifepristone, as well as drugs for the treatment of uterine fibroids, were subject to restrictions, obstetrician-gynecologist, public health specialist, and World Health Organization (WHO) expert Lyubov Erofeeva told Lenta.ru.
According to her, hormonal drugs were prescription drugs before, but from September 1, 2024, mifepristone tablets are subject to special control, which means the prescription form may change. How explained Lawyer Taisiya Kubrina told Medvestnik that now even emergency contraceptives will be sold with a prescription 148-1/у-88, which must be stored for three years.
If you imagine a low-power pharmacy with a small number of staff, then they are unlikely to want to bother with this – not such a big profit. From this point of view – yes, the situation has become more complicated. But, in the end, for emergency contraception there are not only drugs containing mifepristone, but also drugs with levonorgestrel
At the beginning of 2024, the levonorgestrel drugs Postinor and Escapel were allowed to be sold without a prescription. Despite this, pharmacies continue to ask for a prescription for these pills, noted Erofeeva, since the packages with the old instructions, which indicated that the drug is dispensed with a prescription, have not yet been bought out of warehouses. “Somewhere from November, drugs with new instructions, which indicate that this is an over-the-counter sale, will be delivered to the warehouses of pharmaceutical organizations,” the doctor specified.
At the same time, oral contraceptives, for example, are also prescription drugs, but pharmacies do not ask for a prescription for them. According to Erofeeva, the fact that many pharmacists refuse to sell emergency contraception without a prescription may indicate their illiteracy in the issue of the effect of drugs on the female body. “They believe that emergency contraception is similar to an early miscarriage. That is, they assume that emergency contraception terminates an already existing pregnancy,” the WHO expert noted. “This is absolutely not true, they prevent ovulation. Or even completely block it in this cycle.”
Against this background, in the next two months “it will be very difficult to get emergency contraception in pharmacies,” concluded Erofeeva. According to her, women need to hold out until November, when new batches of Postinor and Escapelle with updated instructions arrive in pharmacies. In this regard, she advised Russian women who have regular sex and are not planning a pregnancy to resort to reliable, planned contraception. For those who find themselves in an unforeseen situation, there are alternative methods of emergency contraception – for example, the installation of an IUD.
box#3772428
The decision to add mifepristone and misoprostol to the list of drugs subject to PKU was made because pharmacies allegedly often dispense abortion pills without a prescription. Health Minister Mikhail Murashko assuredthat the restrictions would affect “dispensing of drugs to health care workers” and would not affect the availability of emergency contraception, but ultimately mifepristone and misoprostol were included in the list of emergency contraceptives without specifying the dosage, which imposes restrictions on the sale of all drugs with these active ingredients.
#Russia #restricts #sales #type #contraception