S.L. 31.18 Art. 7Use and contents of prescription. 

(1) Every manual prescription for a specified drug shall be written in ink or in other indelible material on the form set out in the

Seventh Schedule to these Regulations. 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) It shall be the duty of a medical practitioner issuing a prescription for a specified drug to fill in a clear and legible hand Part A of the form set out in the Seventh Schedule, and to supply all the details and give all the information in the appropriate space as therein required; 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 under article 5 of the Medical and Kindred Professions Ordinance to practise the medical profession but who is not yet registered with the Medical Council, such practitioner shall insert the number given to him by the Superintendent instead of the Medical Council registration number on the said prescription.

(3) Subject to the provisions of sub-regulation (11) of this regulation, no medical practitioner shall issue a prescription for a specified drug unless the prescription complies with the provisions of this regulation and such drug is required for the purpose of medical treatment: Provided that a medical practitioner may, subject to the other provisions of these Regulations, issue a prescription for professional use for an amount not in excess of ten phials for injection or of twenty tablets or capsules.

(4) Every medical practitioner who obtains a specified drug for professional use as provided in the proviso to sub-regulation (3) of this regulation shall keep in accordance with, and without prejudice to, the provisions of regulation 4 of these Regulations, a record in an appropriate register of the name and surname (if applicable), the age and address of the patient to whom the drug has been administered and the date of administration.

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

(6) No medical practitioner shall issue a prescription for a specified drug 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 specified drug or otherwise, and that such person has not been supplied with any such drug on a prescription issued by that other medical practitioner.

(7) When issuing a manual prescription a medical practitioner shall use a separate form in respect of every drug prescribed by him under this regulation and no drug other than a specified drug or a drug falling under the Dangerous Drugs Ordinance, may be prescribed on those forms.

(8) When issuing a manual prescription a medical practitioner shall, in prescribing a specified drug, use only prescription forms from the booklet of forms in serial number, issued to him by the Superintendent upon a request made on the form set out in the Eighth Schedule to these Regulations and it shall be the duty of every 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 any 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 by such practitioner personally to the chief pharmacist at the Government Medical Stores at Gwardamangia or sent by post to the Superintendent of Public Health at the Department of Health in Valletta; and 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 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 regulation, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression "medical practitioner" includes a dental surgeon, a dentist and a veterinary surgeon.

(11) The provisions of sub-regulations (1), (2), (7) and, in so far as applicable, sub-regulations (8) and (9) of this regulation shall not apply to the prescription of specified drugs for administration to ward patients in government hospitals, which prescription shall be controlled by the hospital internal rules.