Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis visited on Wednesday the home of Giannis, one of thousands of citizens served by the new home delivery program for high-cost medications. Through the program, which was fully implemented by EOPYY in mid-June, approximately 10,000 home deliveries of high-cost drugs are now carried out monthly, while more than 83,000 medication deliveries have been completed in total, including shipments to regional facilities.
The service is provided free of charge and primarily serves patients with chronic conditions and mobility difficulties, who no longer need to struggle to obtain medications essential for their health. In the immediate future, the program will be expanded to allow delivery to neighborhood pharmacies of beneficiaries as well.
Positive impact of the high-cost medication home delivery program
Giannis, who suffers from cystic fibrosis, explained to Kyriakos Mitsotakis the positive impact of the program on his life, as he is no longer forced to struggle every month due to traveling to EOPYY pharmacies and waiting to collect his treatment, which has upgraded his quality of life.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis: The more people receive home delivery, the shorter the queues will be
“This is a new initiative, very important compared to what happened in the past,” emphasized Kyriakos Mitsotakis. “For me it was a matter of principle to be able to have other ways of delivering such medications, especially to patients who should not have to suffer 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 because someone can choose – for their own reasons – to go and collect the medication from the pharmacy,” the Prime Minister continued.
Organ transplants
The importance of transplants was also emphasized, with Giannis’s sister Anna, who also suffers from cystic fibrosis, highlighting that “we didn’t have lung transplants in Greece before 2020.” “We see the numbers of transplants in Greece increasing slowly but steadily. We were at rock bottom, as you may remember. But I think organ donation has now become much more socially acceptable. This of course requires continuous support from the state. Not only general education but also when, God forbid, brain death occurs, doctors need to know how to speak at that moment to the family, to the patient’s environment, so they can make that difficult but life-saving decision,” the Prime Minister noted.
“We will have the opportunity to inaugurate the Transplant Center at Onasio Hospital. It’s practically ready, we’ll hold the inauguration, we’re scheduling it within the next two months and this is another significant contribution from the Onassis Foundation,” added Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
The free home delivery program covers both medications stored at room temperature and cold chain preparations (refrigerated), which are transported in special secure packaging. The service is easily activated through the EOPYY platform. Beneficiaries only need an electronic prescription and digital medical opinion.
