According to paper Karjalainen, Finnish digital prescriptions will become valid in Estonia as well before 2018 is out, the Baltic News Service reported on Wednesday.

Finland will reciprocate, but only in 2019, they added. Finland is also planning to introduce a similar exchange with Sweden soon.

As a Finnish official explained to Karjalainen, cross-border digital prescriptions are becoming increasingly common across the European Union, though some categories of drugs will likely remain excluded from the service.

The Riigikogu's Social Affairs Committee started a bill last month to amend the Health Services Organization Act and the Medicinal Products Act. The changes will make it possible for authorised state agencies to exchange digital prescriptions and personal medical records with other EU member states.

Chairwoman of the committee, Helmen Kütt (SDE) said at the time that the exchange platform will relay data from the health information system and the prescription centre in Estonia to those of another country and vice versa. So far, systems exist that would make such an exchange possible with Finland, Portugal and Croatia.

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