Pain patients abandoned despite unanimous vote of Committee on Petitions?

German Pain League (Deutsche Schmerzliga) Press Release: Will the Ministry of Health abandon pain patients despite the unanimous vote of the Committee on Petitions?

Berlin – Obligatory exchange of strong analgesics should be abolished due to a change in German drug law

Pain patients who are dependent on strong and effective opioid analgesics to ease their aches and pains now hope that after more than a year their most important political request will be considered: The Committee on Petitions of the German Bundestag unanimously decided to end the obligation of automatically exchanging painkillers, which fall under the German narcotic regulation, and asked the Ministry of Health to implement this political intention. Nonetheless, as the biggest patient organisation for people living with chronic pain in Germany, the German Pain League is vehemently concerned about this development. Due to a current amendment of the German Medicines Act (AMG) the German Pain League fears that the patients´ request will be completely ignored. Again the Ministry seems to try to particularly blame doctors being guilty of self-government. The patient organisation is convinced that the amendment of CDU/CSU and FDP is avoiding a clear rule in favor of chronic pain patients and thus missing the chance of changing the law accordingly. One is afraid that the patients concerned will suffer from these political intrigues which delegate responsibility to doctors and pharmacists.

Here you can find here the original press release (German) of the German Pain League.