eRecept Explained: How Czech E-Prescriptions Work for Foreigners
Medically reviewed by MUDr. Iveta Novotná, obesitologist
How the eRecept works in the Czech Republic for foreigners: getting an e-prescription without a Czech insurance number, collecting it, and EU prescriptions.
You leave the doctor's office with no paper, just a text message containing a code – and then stand in a Czech pharmacy wondering whether that code is really all you need. It is. But a few details trip up foreign residents specifically.
This guide explains what an eRecept is, whether you can get one without a Czech insurance number, how to collect your medicine, and why a prescription from your home country may not work here.
What an eRecept actually is
Electronic prescribing has been mandatory here since January 2018 under the Medicines Act (epreskripce.gov.cz). Instead of a paper form, the doctor sends the prescription into a central repository of electronic prescriptions (CÚER) operated by the State Institute for Drug Control, SÚKL. Every eRecept receives a unique identifier, and at the counter "the pharmacist reads the eRecept identifier and if the eRecept is found in the CÚER, the prescribed medication is issued to the patient" (epreskripce.gov.cz).
That identifier is your prescription. Depending on what you agree with the doctor, you receive it as an SMS, an email, a printed slip (průvodka) with a barcode, or in the official eRecept patient app if you have Czech electronic identity.
The prescription itself lives in the national system, which is why any pharmacy can dispense it. Nothing is tied to the practice that issued it.
Can you get an eRecept without a Czech insurance number?
Yes. On a Czech electronic prescription you are identified by name and date of birth, so a doctor can issue one for a patient with no Czech insurance number and no birth number (rodné číslo). This surprises people who assume the prescription is generated from insurance records – it is not.
What the insurance number affects is reimbursement, not the prescription. If a medicine is not covered you pay full price either way, and plenty of medicines – weight-management medicines among them – are self-pay for Czech and foreign patients alike.
How to collect your medicine at a Czech pharmacy
Three ways a Czech pharmacy can find your prescription, and only one reliably works for foreign residents.
| Method | How it works | Works for foreigners? |
|---|---|---|
| Prescription code | You show the SMS, email or printout; the pharmacist reads the identifier | Yes – this is the dependable option |
| eRecept patient app | Displays your valid prescriptions after identity verification | Only with Czech electronic identity (Identita občana, bank identity) |
| ID-card lookup at the counter | The pharmacist searches the system using your identity document | Unreliable for non-residents – bring the code |
The third row is what catches people out. Czech patients often just hand over an ID card and the pharmacist finds everything prescribed to them: the pharmacist reads the number of the identity document, and the system returns that patient's dispensable eRecepts (SÚKL, in Czech). Among foreign residents that shortcut is commonly reported not to work – not because your prescription is invalid, but because the search fails to match you. Bring the code and the question never arises.
Otherwise collection is unremarkable: any pharmacy, no appointment, no registration, and at many city pharmacies you can ask for instructions in English.
Keep the prescription code, it is your prescription
A few practical habits save a wasted trip:
- Ask for it in two channels – SMS and email, or a printout as backup. Phones die at inconvenient moments.
- Do not delete the message until the medicine is in your hand. Screenshot it.
- Check the validity. Prescriptions are valid for a limited period from issue, and the period differs by type of medicine. Ask your doctor or the pharmacist how long yours is good for.
- Lost the code? Contact the doctor who issued it – they can retrieve or reissue the identifier. The pharmacy cannot invent one for you.
- Not in stock? The code is not consumed by asking. Try another pharmacy or ask them to order it; availability of some medicines fluctuates, as we cover in availability in Czech pharmacies.
Can you use a prescription from another EU country in Czechia?
Sometimes, and that word is the problem.
The Czech Republic does participate in cross-border e-prescriptions, launched in 2023 starting with Poland. But participation by pharmacies is voluntary, which is why SÚKL is preparing a list of the pharmacies that accept a foreign electronic prescription: "the use of functionalities for dispensing a foreign electronic prescription is optional, so the State Institute for Drug Control is preparing a list of pharmacies where it is possible to pick up a foreign electronic prescription" (epreskripce.gov.cz). At the time of writing that page names no pharmacies, so there is nothing to look up in advance. The practical answer is to telephone the pharmacy and ask before you travel to it.
In practice you cannot assume the pharmacy nearest your flat will dispense a prescription issued in your home country. Add the usual complications – the product may not be authorised or stocked here, paper cross-border prescriptions must carry specific data to be recognised, and staff may never have processed one – and treatment that depends on a foreign prescription becomes fragile.
For anything you take continuously, a native Czech eRecept is more reliable: issued in the Czech system, dispensable at every pharmacy in the country, with no need to establish first whether a given pharmacy takes part. If you moved here mid-treatment, we cover the transition in continuing treatment after moving to Czechia.
Prescription medicines cannot be posted to you
Worth stating flatly, because the internet suggests otherwise: mail order of prescription-only medicines is illegal in the Czech Republic. SÚKL states the rule plainly: only registered medicines that are not tied to a medical prescription may be dispensed that way (basic rules for buying medicines online, in Czech). Czech pharmacies may sell over-the-counter products online, but anything requiring a prescription is dispensed in person, on presentation of a valid eRecept.
So any website offering to deliver prescription medicines to your Czech address is operating outside the law, whatever it claims about EU pharmacies or private prescriptions. In a warning about counterfeit medicines (in Czech), SÚKL states that a medicine tied to a prescription can be obtained legally only by dispensing from a pharmacy, and that with packs from sources other than legal ones, quality, safety and efficacy are not assured. The regulator also keeps a public list of websites offering medicines illegally (in Czech). The warning signs are in our guide to illegal online pharmacies.
What this means if you are being treated for obesity here
Weight-management medicines are prescription-only in Czechia, which makes the eRecept the mechanism you deal with month after month. The sequence for a foreign resident: an online questionnaire, a video consultation in English with a licensed Czech doctor, and – if the doctor concludes treatment is appropriate – a Czech electronic prescription you collect at any pharmacy. No GP registration or referral is required, which matters because more than 554,000 people in Czechia have no registered GP and about 65% of them are foreign nationals – roughly 360,000 people (expats.cz). Detail in obesity treatment without a Czech GP.
The prescription is the last step, never the first. These medicines have real side effects. The EMA product information lists headache, nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, constipation and abdominal pain among the most common, affecting more than one in ten people, and they tend to be most noticeable at the beginning and after each dose increase. Rarer but serious complications requiring immediate medical attention are also possible, and there are situations, including pregnancy, breastfeeding and certain conditions in your history, in which these medicines are not suitable at all. A doctor always makes the decision, may decline treatment, and monitors it afterwards.
What treatment involves is described in weight-loss injections in the Czech Republic; what it costs is in our cost breakdown. To find out whether treatment is appropriate for you, complete the questionnaire and talk to a doctor online.
Frequently asked questions
Can a foreigner get a Czech e-prescription without a Czech insurance number? Yes. The prescription identifies you by name and date of birth, so a Czech insurance number is not required for a doctor to issue one. The insurance number affects only reimbursement, and for self-pay medicines you pay the same price as a Czech patient.
Can I collect an eRecept at any pharmacy in the Czech Republic? Yes. The prescription sits in the national repository, not at the issuing practice, so any Czech pharmacy can dispense it. If one branch has no stock, your code stays valid and you can try another pharmacy or ask them to order it.
Will the pharmacy find my prescription from my ID card? Possibly not, if you are a foreign resident. The counter lookup works by reading the number of your identity document and returning the prescriptions the system matches to it, and among non-residents it is commonly reported not to work. Always bring the code you received by SMS, email or as a printout.
Can I use an EU prescription in a Czech pharmacy? Sometimes, but not dependably. Cross-border dispensing is voluntary for Czech pharmacies, and SÚKL is compiling a list of participating pharmacies, which is not yet populated, so call the pharmacy first. The product may also be unavailable or unauthorised here, which is why a prescription issued in the Czech system is safer for ongoing treatment.
Can prescription medicines be delivered to my address in Czechia? No. Mail order of prescription-only medicines is illegal in the Czech Republic; only over-the-counter products may be sold online. Anything prescribed is collected in person at a pharmacy, and any site offering home delivery of prescription medicines is breaking Czech law.