BILL NO. 21

1st Session, 58th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
48 Elizabeth II, 1999

Government Bill

Pharmacy Act (amended)

The Honourable Jamie A. Muir
Minister of Health

First Reading: November 9, 1999

(Explanatory Note)

Second Reading: November 15, 1999

Third Reading: November 19, 1999 (NO AMENDMENTS)

This Bill authorizes optometrists and nurse practitioners to prescribe drugs under certain circumstances.

Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:

1 Section 2 of Chapter 343 of the Revised Statutes, 1989, the Pharmacy Act, is amended by

(a) striking out "the Province" in the second line of clause (k) and substituting "Canada"; and

(b) repealing clause (t) and substituting the following clause:

(t) "prescription" means a formula or direction given by
(i) a medical practitioner, dentist or veterinary surgeon of a remedy for, or as treatment for, a disease or disorder, prescribing the ingredients with or without the method of using,

(ii) an optometrist legally qualified to practise optometry in the Province, who is prescribing for the treatment of anterior segment disease of the eye, or

(iii) a nurse practitioner who

(A) is a registered nurse, legally qualified to practise nursing in the Province,

(B) has completed a Primary Care Nurse Practitioner educational program approved by the Registered Nurses' Association of Nova Scotia, and

(C) is working in association with the Department of Healths "Strengthening Primary Care in Nova Scotia Evaluation Initiative" between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2002, and in accordance with the conditions as prescribed by the regulations.

2 Subsection 44(8) of Chapter 343 is repealed.