Foreign prescriptions in Brazil: what works, what does not, and how to plan

By Ramon Martins Andrade, attorney (OAB/RJ 188.374)

You arrive in Brazil with a prescription written by your doctor at home, walk into a pharmacy, and are told it cannot be filled. The reason is rarely the language. It is who signed it.

Who may prescribe in Brazil

Under Law 3.268/1957, physicians may only practise medicine in Brazil after registering their qualifications and enrolling with the Regional Council of Medicine (CRM) of the jurisdiction where they work. A prescription signed abroad is perfectly regular where it was issued, but it does not carry, in Brazil, the effect of one signed by a locally registered physician. Everything else follows from that.

What pharmacies are required to check

Law 5.991/1973 requires prescriptions to be written in Portuguese, legibly and without abbreviations. Dispensing rules require the prescriber to be identified by name and professional council registration number. No Brazilian rule addresses foreign prescriptions as such; the obstacle is the combination of these two requirements. This is why refusal at the counter is common, and usually well founded.

The route that works

Have the prescription reissued by a physician registered in Brazil. This is not a rubber stamp: the local doctor examines the patient, decides whether to maintain the treatment and issues a prescription under their own responsibility. Bring a clinical report from your doctor at home, with diagnosis, previous treatments, doses and reasoning. That report, more than the prescription itself, is what allows a Brazilian colleague to take over the case in a single consultation.

Bringing medication in your luggage

Personal imports for the traveller’s own use, in accompanied or unaccompanied baggage, are exempt from prior sanitary authorisation, provided the quantity and frequency are consistent with the duration and purpose of the treatment. Controlled substances are the exception: Ordinance 344/1998 expressly prohibits an individual from carrying such medicines into or out of the country, on international travel, without a copy of the medical prescription. If your treatment includes controlled medication, travel with the prescription, and preferably with a translation.

Buying abroad what is not available here

Brazilian rules allow individuals to purchase abroad, for their own use, medicines based on certain controlled substances in presentations not registered or not marketed in Brazil, upon medical prescription and an invoice showing a quantity consistent with individual use. Cannabis-derived products follow a separate and more detailed procedure, with registration on a federal portal and a prescription valid for six months.

Telemedicine with your doctor abroad

The Federal Council of Medicine authorises telemedicine within Brazilian territory and requires an individual provider to be a physician enrolled with the council of their jurisdiction. The resolution contains no express provision on physicians located abroad treating patients in Brazil. What can be stated with certainty is the practical effect: a prescription issued in such a consultation faces the same limitations described above, and local follow-up remains necessary.

Planning ahead

If you will be in Brazil for more than a few weeks and depend on continuous medication, arrange a local consultation early, carry a written clinical summary, and check whether your medication exists here under a different brand name. Patients who plan this before travelling rarely have a problem. Those who arrive and improvise usually lose days.

If your situation resembles the one described here, get in touch with the office.

Ramon Martins Andrade (OAB/RJ 188.374) is a lawyer who graduated from UFRJ in 2011, with master’s degrees from Université Sorbonne Nouvelle and from the Naval War College (EGN, Brazilian Navy). He is currently a researcher in Human Rights and Health at ENSP/Fiocruz.

This content is for information and education only. It does not constitute legal advice, advertising of results or any guarantee of outcome, under Rule 205/2021 of the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB).