CDAP goes online

National Insurance Property Development Company Ltd (NIPDEC) general manager Margaret Thompson said yesterday each person in CDAP will get a card containing their data which will cut down on paper work at pharmacies.

“Once they go with their prescription, the pharmacist will swipe the card on a particular machine. They will then enter what drugs are taken and that will uplink to our central data base and within 24 hours we will know what drugs were dispensed,” Thompson said.

Speaking to reporters at the launch of the enhanced CDAP at Crowne Plaza, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday, Thompson said computerisation would allow NIPDEC to monitor dispensing of drugs and restock pharmacies in a timely manner. Pharmacists can also order online and NIPDEC could prepare payment.

A pilot programme is taking place with about 25 pharmacies and this will finish at the end of May.

Health Minister John Rahael said drugs to treat epilepsy, Parkinson’s Disease and acid reflux have been added to CDAP which now covers more than 230,000 people, “almost 20 percent of the national population.”

When CDAP was introduced in February 2003, it catered for only four diseases — diabetes, hypertension, glaucoma and certain cardiac diseases in persons 65 years and over, who were receiving old age pension and anyone on disability assistance.