S.I. No. 203/1956:

MEDICAL PREPARATIONS (ORAL DIABETIC TREATMENTS) REGULATIONS, 1956.

MEDICAL PREPARATIONS (ORAL DIABETIC TREATMENTS) REGULATIONS, 1956.

The Minister for Health, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 5 and 65 of the Health Act, 1947 (No. 28 of 1947), hereby makes the following regulations :--

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Medical Preparations (Oral Diabetic Treatments) Regulations, 1956.

2.--(1) In these Regulations--

" The Minister " means the Minister for Health ;

" controlled preparation " means the substance known as N-Butyl-N-sulphanilylurea and includes any preparation containing that substance ;

" medical prescription " means a written prescription for a controlled preparation which is--

(a) signed and dated by a registered medical practitioner whose address is on the prescription, and

(b) issued by that medical practitioner to a person, whose name and address is recorded thereon, prescribing the supply to such person of either

(i) a specified quantity of a controlled preparation on one occasion, or

(ii) a specified quantity of a controlled preparation on a specified number of occasions at specified intervals ;

" sale " includes the offering or keeping for sale.

(2) Where neither the number of occasions on which nor the intervals at which the controlled preparation may be supplied are mentioned in a medical prescription, the prescription shall be deemed to be a prescription for the supply of a specified quantity of the controlled preparation on one occasion.

(3) Where the number of occasions on which the controlled preparation may be supplied is specified in a medical prescription but the intervals at which it may be supplied are not so specified, such intervals (not being less than three days) as the person dispensing the prescription thinks proper shall be deemed to be specified in the prescription.

(4) Where the intervals at which the controlled preparation may be supplied are specified in a medical prescription but the number of occasions on which it may be supplied are not so specified, three occasions shall be deemed to be specified in the prescription.

3. Article 4 of these Regulations shall not apply to the sale of a controlled preparation to--

(a) a pharmaceutical chemist or a dispensing chemist and druggist ;

(b) a hospital or similar institution on a written order signed by a registered medical practitioner, pharmaceutical chemist or dispensing chemist and druggist employed in the institution ;

(c) an authority which is a local authority for the purposes of the Local Government Act, 1941 ;

(d) the Medical Research Council of Ireland, the Veterinary College of Ireland or the Veterinary Research Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture ;

(e) a registered medical practitioner ;

(f) any person authorised in that behalf by the Minister.

4.--(1) A pharmaceutical chemist or a dispensing chemist and druggist shall not sell a controlled preparation by retail except in the dispensing, in accordance with its terms, of a medical prescription.

(2) A pharmaceutical chemist or dispensing chemist and druggist who has completed the dispensing of a medical prescription shall forthwith write prominently on the prescription the word " dispensed " and the date on which it was dispensed, shall retain the prescription in his possession for at least two years and shall then destroy it.

(3) A pharmaceutical chemist or dispensing chemist and druggist who has dispensed in part a medical prescription shall forthwith record on the prescription the amount of each quantity of the controlled preparation supplied by him on foot of the prescription and the date on which he supplied each such quantity.

(4) A pharmaceutical chemist or dispensing chemist and druggist shall make available any medical prescriptions in his possession for inspection by authorised officers of the Minister and by inspectors of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland.

5. Nothing in these Regulations shall affect the supply of a controlled preparation by a registered medical practitioner to a person under his care.

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Minister for Health, this 16th day of July, One Thousand Nine Hundred and Fifty-six.

THOMAS F. O'HIGGINS,

Minister for Health.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

These regulations provide that certain drugs, used in the treatment of diabetes, may normally be sold only on presentation of a medical prescription.