Higgins said it was easy for patients to provide false personal information to these providers to get the drugs they wanted.

“One of the big things about training to be a GP is learning when to say ‘no,this is not safe for you’,” she said. “You don’t have to be a GP to be working in these services. Any doctor is able to prescribe.”

Health Minister Mark Butlerweighed into the debate last week,saying he was concerned about Australian start-ups selling and prescribing drugs online without ever seeing patients’ faces.

It followed this mastheadrecently reporting that Australian start-ups,Eucalyptus and Midnight Health,were not holding video calls or checking identity documents before posting weight-loss medication that carries serious side effects.

Consumers Health Forum chief executive Elizabeth Deveny said telehealth had increased access to healthcare,particularly for people living in remote areas. She said the platforms often appealed to people with conditions that had been stigmatised:erectile dysfunction,obesity and sexually transmitted infections.

But she’s concerned consumers are not always receiving quality,safe healthcare.

“Some of these companies are thinking more about how much money they can make,rather than what is in the best interests of a patient,” she said.

Anthony Tassone,the Victorian president of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia,said pharmacists were receiving scripts from online providers when it was clear there should have been more involvement from a doctor.

In one instance,he said a doctor prescribed prednisolone,a type of steroid used to treat allergies,to a child,but requested the pharmacist weigh the child to determine the proper dose.

“Convenience is important,but we do need to balance that with patient safety,” he said.

The finalised guidelines for telehealth providers will be announced this week and come into force later this year.

Practitioners who prescribe drugs or provide healthcare to patients they have not consulted – either in person,over video or the phone – face the prospect of being hauled before the Medical Board of Australia. They will only be allowed to do so in exceptional circumstances where they can prove the prescribing was necessary.

A spokesman for InstantScripts,one of the largest online script start-ups,said it declined 35 per cent of initial requests for prescriptions,referring these patients to a telehealth consultation.

“We agree there is a need for clear,consistent safeguards that are informed by broad industry consultation and international examples of best practice.”

Michele Squire,the founder of telehealth provider Qr8,welcomes any move to clamp down on telehealth prescribing.

Squire said she was particularly concerned about the prescribing of medication that did not occur in real time and unfolded over online chats and questionnaires.

“Self-diagnosis determines what questions are brought up,” she said. “You have no way of verifying what is wrong with a patient.”

Squire said doctors at her telehealth company always consulted patients in real-time using a secure video link. She said some mothers had been prescribed drugs by other providers that were passed through breast milk and potentially dangerous to their breastfed babies.

Tim Doyle,the chief executive of telehealth platform Eucalyptus,said he looked forward to seeing the guidelines and would implement any required changes.

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