Health Minister Adonis Georgiades visited a private pharmacy in Nea Erythraia today, where a High Cost Drug (HCP) was distributed to a beneficiary patient by a pharmacy in his neighbourhood. The visit was also attended by the president of the Panhellenic Pharmaceutical Association Apostolos Valtas.
As noted in a relevant announcement, this initiative, in combination with the already existing actions of sending medicines through EOPYY pharmacies and home delivery, aims to further facilitate the beneficiaries of pharmaceutical care. EOPYY insured persons can now obtain specific High Cost Medicines from private pharmacies of their choice, thus significantly reducing the inconvenience and long waits at the Agency’s pharmacies.
The process began on 16 February 2026, with the launch of the new EOPYY online platform, where stakeholders were able to submit their request to join the EOPYY’s High Cost Medicines (HCM) programme through Private Pharmacies.
The first phase of the new process began with the inclusion of anti-cancer treatments for various types of cancer, as well as MS drugs, covering about 24.000 beneficiaries. The second phase, which came into force on 20 April, included biological agents for the treatment of rheumatic diseases, covering a further 23 000 patients. Meanwhile, treatments for hepatitis B and asthma are expected to be added in the next month, expanding coverage to a further 18,000 patients. In total, the reform already affects about 67,000 insured people, out of a total of 180,000 people who receive High Cost Drugs on a regular basis.
Note that, the collection of medicines is at no cost to the beneficiaries. The patient is informed through the e-prescribing system about the possibility of the drug being made available by a private pharmacy and then selects the pharmacy they want for each individual prescription.
The Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiades, said:
The Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiades, said:
“I really feel very, very proud because we have managed to implement a patient request that has been pending for perhaps twenty years. People who are entitled to High Cost Medicines will finally be freed from the queues and long waits in the pharmacies of the NHS. So this year, we made two major reforms. The first step was the home delivery of High Cost Medicines, which also made a big difference to patients. However, home delivery had a disadvantage from the beginning. High Cost Drugs are drugs for serious illnesses, with serious side effects, and the absence of a pharmacist has always been a concern. Because the pharmacist is the assurance that the way the drug is administered will be done in the scientifically appropriate way and the possible side effects will be as few as possible. Now patients are able to choose the pharmacy of their choice and receive their medicine from there.”
The President of P.F.S. Apostolos Baltas, said:
“I would like to say that with today’s drug delivery we are formalizing something that really should have been done many, many years ago. The repatriation of High Cost Drugs from the neighborhood pharmacies to serve the Greek patient, so that he/she will not be plagued by the queues of shame.”
The beneficiary-patient of the program stated:
“This is a cross-section of what you are doing. I personally benefit tremendously from the program. I take MS pills twice a day. Until now I have been going to the EOPY pharmacy in Maroussi either myself or one of my own people to pick up the medicine. It has been an incredible hassle all this. There are people who really have a problem being subjected to this process of waiting and suffering. Apart from that there is the human element, that of the pharmacist with the patient. Because in the NHS pharmacy you go to a faceless counter and you’re faced with a person you don’t know who they are. Whereas neighborhood pharmacies help people. The pharmacist is often the patient’s man.”
