Ministerial decision makes preventative HIV drug available in Greece
A drug that prevents the transmission of the HIV virus will be available in Greece for the first time, following the signing of a joint ministerial decision on Thursday.
The decision, announced one day before World AIDS Day, marks an important step in the effort to control HIV infection in Greece
PrEP – or pre-exposure prophylaxis – is an antiretroviral medicine which, taken once a day, stops the transmission of HIV during unprotected sex.
According to the decision published by the Ministries of Health, Finance and Digital Governance, the prescription will be issued exclusively by the pharmacies of public hospitals and at no cost to the beneficiaries.
The pill will be given to people who are at an increased risk of contracting the virus. To receive the preventive treatment, one will undergo special tests every three months to determine whether one is negative for the HIV virus, as this is a basic condition for the prescription of the treatment.
PrEP will be prescribed exclusively by doctors specializing in pathology or general medicine, or dermatology/venereology or obstetrics and gynecology, and the prescribing doctor has the option of issuing repeated prescriptions of up to three months duration.
To protect personal data, the National Insurance Number (AMKA) of the beneficiary will be pseudonymized by the system when registering the prescription in the electronic platform, through the creation of a Beneficiary Code Number. Likewise, only the beneficiary’s pseudonymized information (Beneficiary Code Number) will appear in the prescription and only the doctor who prescribes PrEP will have access to said personal data.
These prescriptions will be executed only by the pharmacies of public hospitals that carry out prescriptions of antiretroviral drugs.
