On Wednesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited the home of Giannis, one of the thousands of citizens served by the new home-delivery program for high-cost medicines.

Through the program, which was fully implemented by EOPYY in mid-June, around 10,000 home deliveries of high-cost medicines (HCM) are now carried out each month, while in total more than 83,000 deliveries of pharmaceutical products have been completed, including shipments to regional healthcare facilities.

The service is provided free of charge and primarily supports patients with chronic illnesses and mobility difficulties, who no longer need to suffer the inconvenience of obtaining essential medicines for their health. In the near future, the program will be expanded to allow delivery to the beneficiary’s neighborhood pharmacy as well.

Giannis, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, explained to Kyriakos Mitsotakis the positive impact the program has had on his life, as he is no longer forced to endure the monthly hassle of traveling to an EOPYY pharmacy and waiting to collect his treatment — a change that has significantly improved his quality of life.

“This is a new initiative, very important compared to what was happening in the past,” Kyriakos Mitsotakis emphasized. “For me, it was a matter of principle that we should have more ways of delivering such medicines, especially to patients who should not have to suffer waiting in pharmacy queues. And of course, the more people receive them at home or tomorrow from their local pharmacies, the shorter the queues will be, since some may still prefer — for their own reasons — to pick up the medicine from the pharmacy,” the Prime Minister continued.

The importance of transplants was also highlighted, with Giannis’s sister, Anna — who also suffers from cystic fibrosis — stressing that “before 2020, we did not have lung transplants in Greece.”

“We are slowly but steadily seeing the number of transplants in Greece increase. We used to be at the very bottom, as you may recall. But I think now organ donation has become much more socially accepted. Of course, this requires continuous support from the state. Not only general education but also ensuring that when, God forbid, brain death occurs, doctors know how to talk to the family and loved ones at that moment, so they can make this difficult but life-saving decision,” the Prime Minister noted.

“We will also have the opportunity to inaugurate the Transplant Center at the Onassis Foundation. It is practically ready, and the inauguration is scheduled within the next two months. This represents yet another important contribution from the Onassis Foundation,” added Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

The free home-delivery program covers both medicines stored at room temperature and cold-chain products (refrigerated), which are transported in specially designed secure packaging. The service is easy to activate through the EOPYY platform. Beneficiaries only need an electronic prescription and a digital medical certificate.