New rules to correct anomalies on the regulations for prescription medicine have moved a step closer.

The Medicines (Amendment) Bill was passed through its second reading and clauses stages in the Legislative Council last week.

Department of Health member Kerry Sharpe MLC, who is in charge of guiding the bill through Legislative Council, said the underlying principle was to update the island’s regulatory framework for prescription-only medicines.

The new rules to be inserted would prohibit someone from selling or supplying, or offering to do so, a prescription-only medicine, other than in accordance with a prescription from a health professional.

They would also prevent anyone who was ’not an appropriately qualified healthcare professional’ from administering prescription medicine unless they were acting under the direction of a health professional.

Mrs Sharpe said the rule would not apply where the sale or supply to a patient was by a doctor or dentist.

Mrs Sharpe said: ’The Bill merely seeks to correct an anomaly and ensure the controls surrounding prescription-only medicines operate as the Department of Health and Social Care intends.’