The Ministry of Health explains which drugs can only be bought with a prescription from April

However, the remaining 40% of medicines do not need to be prescribed by a doctor. They will remain available.

The Ministry of Health has explained which medicines need a prescription.

What drugs are prescribed?

The Ministry of Public Health explains that the prescription drugs are the drugs, the use of which carries increased risks. For example, the improper use of some drugs in this category can cause serious side effects, cause addiction or carry the risk of abuse.

So, prescription drugs include:

• antibiotics;
• anticonvulsants;
• hormonal drugs (including contraceptives);
• drugs for blood pressure, heart disease;
• certain antihelminthics;
• certain antihistamines;
• blood thinners;
• antidepressants, neuroleptics and relaxants;
• steroid medications;
• certain medicines for pain, coughs and sedatives.

How you can find out for yourself whether a certain drug is prescribed

This can be done by checking the instructions of the medication on the website of any pharmacy or in the State Register of Medicines of Ukraine. As a rule, all drug profiles in the description have a column "Terms of Dispensing".