*****************************************
Following is a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Ambrose S K Lee, to a question by the Hon Kwok Ka-ki on record of dangerous drugs in the Legislative Council today (March 14):
Question:
Sections 5 and 6 of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations (Cap. 134A) require that a registered medical practitioner shall, upon prescribing a dangerous drug, make an entry of the particulars of the drug in a register in ink or otherwise so as to be indelible. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council whether the existing law also allows a registered medical practitioner to make and store such entries by computer, instead of in the above handwritten form?
Reply:
Madam President,
Under regulation 5(1)(a) of the Dangerous Drugs Regulations (Cap. 134A) (the Regulations), persons including registered medical practitioners shall, in accordance with the relevant requirements, including those under regulation 6(c) and (d) of the Regulations, keep a register and enter the true particulars of every quantity of a dangerous drug obtained and supplied by him.
Regulation 6(d) of the Regulations specifies that every entry required to be made under regulation 5 in such register, and every correction of such an entry, shall be in ink or otherwise so as to be indelible.
In addition, under regulation 6(c) of the Regulations, no cancellation, obliteration or alteration of any such entry shall be made, and every correction of such an entry shall be made only by way of a marginal note or footnote which shall specify the date on which the correction is made.
The law does not prohibit registered medical practitioners from making and storing entries related to dangerous drugs in a computer. However, if computer is used to make entries, the computer software concerned should ensure the dangerous drugs register so kept complies with the above-mentioned statutory requirements, including entries being indelible, no cancellation, obliteration or alteration of entries, and every correction shall be made only by way of a marginal note or footnote which shall specify the date on which the correction is made.
Ends/Wednesday, March 14, 2007
Issued at HKT 14:40
NNNN
