Euthanasia drugs will be delivered directly to patients using a mobile delivery service when Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying scheme starts later this year.

The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, which has been given sole responsibility for importing, storing, preparing and dispensing the medications, says it will deliver the drugs to patients living in rural Victoria or who are too sick to travel to pick up the drugs themselves.

It has been suggested that around 150 terminally ill patients will request access to voluntary assisted dying once the state’s euthanasia laws come into effect on 19 June.

As part of the scheme, pharmacists at the Alfred will also be tasked with providing patients with information on how to correctly administer the lethal medications, and ensuring any unused drugs are returned and destroyed.