From July, a fine of 1 million won will be imposed on a pharmacist who dispenses a prescription drugs without medication counseling, according to the amendment of pharmaceutical affairs law that passed in Assembly on February 28^th.

 

The new law defines the meaning of medication counseling that ¡®explain the name, shape, dosage, efficacy, effect, storage, side effects and interactions of drug to the patient¡¯ and it requires pharmacists to provide verbal or written medication counseling about prescription drugs. Written (or electronic) consultation should be easy to understand. The details about written consultation will be specified by the Ministry of Health and Welfare later.

 

Medication counseling is professional part of pharmacists, but many people worry about decreasing of verbal counseling by face to face. Written consultation cannot be the main of medication counseling. Verbal consultation should be mandatory and written consultation should be optional with a fee. It also can be the start of online pharmacy.