UPA ECPs mandatory dispensing protocol in Croatia cancelled
As of June 2016, the mandatory dispensing protocol for UPA EC pills in Croatia has been cancelled.
The dispensing protocol was developed by the Croatian Pharmacy Chamber, and its mandatory status was imposed by the Minister of Health in April 2015 following the European Medicine Agency’s (EMA) recommendation to sell UPA EC without a prescription. The mandatory dispensing protocol was introduced without any legal grounds and in major contradiction to the product documentation approved by the EMA. Ever since, the Croatian Society of Gynecological Endocrinology and Human Reproduction has been executing evidence-based professional education activities and workshops for gynecologists and pharmacists to educate them on EC, and they, along with other professional societies of gynecologists, the Croatian Pharmacists Association, public ombudsman for women’s and children’s rights, NGOs, and many prominent politicians (even of conservative provenience) raised their voices against the dispensing protocol. Local press attention to this matter helped those voices to be heard and gained the attention of the evidence-based, medicine-oriented Minister of Health, who helped to get the mandatory dispensing protocol removed.
For more information on EC in Croatia, please visit ECEC’s Croatia country profile page.
