often theEuropean Union it is forced to postpone decisions on crucial issues, while on matters of lesser priority it seems to adopt a stronger and more decisive attitude. It is a pity, however, that on many occasions you decide to sacrifice comfort and daily needs in the name of green choices. An example of this is one of the latest proposals from the European Commission, which would like to set aside the so-called leaflet in the packaging of drugs we are used to – useful for providing information to the customer – in the context of a digital reform.
The idea would be to replace the classic leaflet with a QR code to frame and read with your smartphone. This was reported by the Spanish newspaper The country. The intent of such a move? Reduce the use of paper and consequently save costs. However, green innovation would present more than a few problems and would have a considerable impact, especially on the elderly peoplewhich largely resort to the use of drugs and which in many cases do not have a faithful relationship with technology.
This is why the usefulness of such a decision would be questioned: theliteracy and the digital familiarity of an elder cannot be compared at all to that of a young person. Yet the leaflet plays a very important role: it is a real indispensable guide for the use of a medicine that lists all the useful information to know before and while taking a particular drug, from the dosage to the contraindications.
The maxi reform of the pharmaceutical legislation that the European Commission is preparing has the objective of improving patient access to medicines, but in doing so we risk throwing a spanner in the works for the elderly. Digitizing the information text of a drug could significantly complicate access for older people. It must be said that at least there is a glimmer of hope: the draft envisages that the countries decide the methods and timing of this step, taking into consideration the different levels of digital development of the member states.
A compromise could be adopted following the example of Spainor eliminating the card only for medicines a hospital use which are administered by healthcare professionals. Sources from the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS) explain that this option is currently the preferred one, even if it is specified that it must be taken into account that the European legislative reform could take more than a year to be approved.
