CMA established a central pharmacy within the camp in June 2021 to improve coordination between the different healthcare actors providing medical services at the time. With multiple organizations operating in the medical area and most patient records still managed through paper-based systems, the risk of duplication in prescriptions and medication distribution was significant. By centralizing the dispensing of medication, the pharmacy helped ensure safer prescribing practices, improve oversight of available medicines, and support more efficient collaboration between medical teams working in the camp.

The pharmacy was run in close coordination with several medical actors working in the camp, helping streamline access to medication across different healthcare providers. For CMA, it is crucial to support the local Greek economy, so we sourced medication through a Greek distribution center. In addition, CMA started its collaboration with the Greek NGO GIVMED, whose mission is to reduce medication waste by redistributing unused medicines to organizations and communities that can use them.

The central pharmacy’s medication distribution component operated until March 2026. Since then, an adapted approach has been implemented to ensure safe medication distribution, which has since been expanded across Greece. More information can be found here.