Your electronic prescription (الروشتة الإلكترونية): how to read it and use it safely at the pharmacy

Your doctor says "the prescription is electronic", or you received a message or a QR instead of a paper. You want to be sure it says what the doctor meant, that the pharmacy dispenses exactly that, and that nobody else can misuse it. This guide takes you through that in order. It is general information, not medical advice, and it contains no dosing: your doctor and pharmacist decide what you take.

What is verified about the electronic prescription in Egypt

Many people search "الروشتة الإلكترونية" or "وصفة طبية إلكترونية" expecting a single national system. Here is what the public record supports, and no more.

• The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) has a digital prescription project. In September 2025 its head, Dr Ali El-Ghamrawy, held talks with Healthflow and Fixed Misr (FEDIS) on a digital prescription project meant to build an integrated data system connecting healthcare providers, pharmacies and hospitals and to reduce errors tied to paper prescriptions (Amwal Al Ghad).
• The Ministry of Health and Population supports it. A report of 19 October 2025 describes a further meeting at the EDA on the project's developments and on linking the ministry's system with the Authority's. The EDA head called it a foundational pillar of digital transformation, said it would help track drug dispensing and support rational use, and the ministry's assistant minister for information systems said the ministry supports it (Masrawy). The report gives no launch date or rollout schedule.
• Private platforms exist. Yodawy, a Giza-based portal, lets doctors issue prescriptions digitally, patients find pharmacies that can fill them, and insurers approve payments, and is aimed mainly at chronic patients who need regular refills (ImpactAlpha).
• Insurance platforms show prescriptions. A digital platform shown at the Universal Health Insurance Authority forum in February 2025 lets insured users book appointments, view records and review prescriptions (Amwal Al Ghad).

What we could not verify, and therefore do not claim: a single nationwide mandatory format, a government prescription app for the public, or a date when paper prescriptions stop being accepted. In practice, what you receive depends on where you were treated: a printed sheet generated by the clinic's software, an SMS or WhatsApp message, a QR code, or an entry visible in your insurer's platform. Ask the clinic what the prescription number or code is and where the pharmacy should look it up.

Step 1: Check the prescription before you leave the clinic

An electronic prescription removes illegible handwriting, not mistakes. Check these lines while the doctor is still in front of you.

1. Your details. Name, age, and the date. A prescription for the wrong person or an old date may be refused.
2. Medicine name. Written as the brand name, the generic (active ingredient) name, or both.
3. Strength and form. For example tablet, syrup, cream or injection, and the strength written beside it. The same medicine exists in several strengths.
4. Directions. How to take it, how often, with or without food, and for how long, as the doctor wrote them. The directions on screen should match what the doctor said aloud.
5. Quantity or number of packs, and whether refills are allowed.
6. Doctor's name, speciality, clinic, and a contact or prescription number.

Then ask three questions, which fit the "KNOW. CHECK. ASK." idea of the World Health Organization's Medication Without Harm campaign: What is each medicine for? What should I watch for? When should I come back or seek urgent help? WHO reports that medication-related harm affects about 1 in 30 patients in health care, and more than a quarter of it is severe or life-threatening (WHO), which is why a minute of checking is worth it.

Tell the doctor, before the prescription is finalised, about your allergies, other medicines (including vitamins and herbal products), pregnancy or breastfeeding if relevant, and any recent changes. WHO's patient-safety guidance asks patients to keep an up-to-date list of their medicines and show it at each encounter with a provider (WHO).

Step 2: How to read the lines, in plain words

• Active ingredient is the substance that does the work, written in a standard name (for example, the name of a molecule). Brand name is the manufacturer's marketing name for a product that contains it. One active ingredient can have many brand names.
• Strength tells how much active ingredient is in each unit. Do not change strength by yourself, even if the box looks similar.
• Form is how you take it: tablet, capsule, drops, syrup, cream, injection, inhaler.
• Directions are the part that matters most and the part most often misread. If a line says "twice daily" ask: with what interval, before or after food, and for how many days?
• Duration matters as much as the dose. Some medicines must be finished, others stopped; the doctor decides. Do not stop or extend on your own.
• Warnings about driving, alcohol, sun or other medicines should be written or explained. If not, ask the pharmacist.

Step 3: What happens at the pharmacy, and how dispensing is recorded

At the pharmacy, give the code or show the prescription, and your name. A good pharmacy checks the prescription against the screen or paper, confirms the medicine, strength and quantity with you, tells you how it is to be taken, and records what it handed over.

Recording what was dispensed matters for three reasons. It prevents the same prescription being filled twice without anyone knowing. It lets the next health professional see what you actually received, not only what was written. And it gives the pharmacy a trace to check if a mistake is suspected. The EDA's stated aim for the national project is to help track drug dispensing (Masrawy). Whether your pharmacy records it today depends on its own system; you can simply ask, "Is this being recorded against my prescription?"

At the counter, check four things before you leave:

• the name and strength on the box match the prescription (or the pharmacist explained any substitute);
• the quantity matches;
• the expiry date is in the future;
• you understand how to take it and what the instructions are, and the label or leaflet agrees.

If something does not match, ask before you pay. If the pharmacy cannot dispense one item, ask the pharmacist to tell your doctor or to suggest options and let the doctor confirm, rather than choosing by yourself.

Step 4: Generic or brand, at a general level

You may be offered a different box than the one named. This is not automatically wrong, and not automatically fine.

The US Food and Drug Administration states that a generic medicine has the same active ingredient, strength and dosage form as the brand-name medicine, is given the same way, and is required to be bioequivalent to it (FDA). Colour, shape and packaging can differ. What follows for you:

1. Compare the active ingredient on both boxes. If it is the same, with the same strength and form, it is a candidate for substitution.
2. Do not combine two boxes that contain the same active ingredient under different brand names without asking; this is a common route to taking too much.
3. Tell the pharmacist if you have had a reaction to a particular product, or if your doctor asked for a specific brand.
4. Ask the doctor if you are unsure, especially for medicines where small differences matter, and let the doctor decide.

Price is a legitimate reason to ask about a generic, and the pharmacist is the right person to ask.

Why you should not share your prescription

Treat the prescription, and any code, QR or message that carries it, like a medical record and like a payment instruction.

• It reveals your health. Under Egypt's Personal Data Protection Law No. 151 of 2020, data revealing a person's mental, psychological or physical health is sensitive personal data, and collecting or processing personal data requires the explicit consent of the data subject unless the law provides otherwise (Law No. 151 of 2020, Articles 1 and 2). The law also gives you the right to withdraw consent and to ask for correction.
• It can be misused. Anyone holding the code may try to fill it, or learn what you take.
• It can be altered or copied. Photos of prescriptions posted in groups can be reused.

Practical rules:

1. Send the code only to the pharmacy you chose, in the way the pharmacy asks.
2. Never post a photo of a prescription, label or ID in a group or public comment.
3. Do not give a code to a caller or a message who "needs it to update your insurance". No real pharmacy needs your bank card PIN or the one-time code your bank sends.
4. Keep screenshots out of shared albums; delete when no longer needed, but keep what you need for your own record.

Keep your own record

Note the date, the doctor, the diagnosis in your words, each medicine with its strength and duration, and where you filled it. A running list of your medicines belongs in your personal medical file, along with allergies; the guide to building that file with emergency information covers it. For booking the visit in the first place, see how to book a doctor online in Egypt.

A short checklist

• Name, date, doctor on the prescription are correct.
• For each medicine I know: what it is for, strength, form, how and how long to take it.
• I told the doctor my allergies and other medicines.
• At the pharmacy: box, strength, quantity and expiry match; substitutes were explained.
• I asked that dispensing be recorded.
• I shared the code with no one except the pharmacy.

The next step

Before you leave your next appointment, ask the doctor one thing: "Can you read me the prescription line by line?" Then keep a note of what each medicine is for. If you run a clinic or pharmacy, Softwiro builds MyClinic, where a consultation produces an electronic prescription in the patient's medical file and the pharmacy records dispensing against that same prescription. To talk about it, contact us.

Sources

• Egypt's EDA teams up with Healthflow, FEDIS on digital prescriptions — Amwal Al Ghad, September 2025. EDA talks on a digital prescription project meant to connect providers, pharmacies and hospitals and reduce paper-prescription errors.
• هيئة الدواء تبحث آليات تنفيذ الروشتة الرقمية — Masrawy, 19 October 2025. The project is under development with Ministry of Health support; aims include tracking dispensing and rational use; no launch date given.
• Egypt's Yodawy raises $16 million to digitize prescriptions — ImpactAlpha. How one private portal handles e-prescriptions for doctors, patients, pharmacies and insurers.
• Law No. 151 of 2020 (Personal Data Protection), English text — Egypt. Health data as sensitive personal data; explicit consent; rights to access, withdraw consent and correct.
• Generic Drug Facts — US FDA. A generic has the same active ingredient, strength and dosage form as the brand and is bioequivalent.
• Patient safety fact sheet — World Health Organization. Medication-related harm figures.