How to get a prescription in Greece

Three routes lead to a prescription, and the one you use changes the paperwork rather than the medicine.

• Your personal doctor (prosopikos iatros). Greece's national electronic health record service states that "all citizens over the age of 16 may register with a Personal Doctor", and describes the service as covering prevention, the recording of the electronic health record, prescribing medication, and issuing referrals. Registration is handled through the official citizens' services portal.
• A public health unit or hospital outpatient clinic. This is the practical route before you have a personal doctor registered, and the one an emergency department will hand you back to for follow-up.
• A private doctor. You pay the consultation fee yourself. When you book, ask whether the doctor prescribes through the national electronic prescription system, because that determines whether the pharmacy can pull the script up against your number rather than treating it as a private paper script.

Whichever route you take, the prescription is normally created in the national system rather than handwritten on a pad. The pharmacy works from that record.

The Greek Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs states that a Social Security Registration Number (AMKA) "has been mandatory since 2009 for those who work or are insured or intend to work within Greek borders", and that an AMKA can be issued at any Citizens' Service Centres (KEP) in Greece or the branches of e-EFKA. That number is what a prescription is filed against.

Two things new arrivals routinely get wrong here.

• An AMKA is a registration number, not health cover. EOPYY's national contact point describes entitlement being proved with certificates issued by the body that insures you, naming the European Health Insurance Card for temporary stays, the S2 for planned treatment and the S1 for permanent residence, and refers to an "EU-AMKA" for people affiliated through an S1. Holding the number does not by itself put a Greek insurer behind your bills.
• The document list is confirmed locally. The Ministry page says applicants present "the necessary supporting documents" without listing them. Call the KEP or e-EFKA branch you plan to use and ask what to bring for your specific status, rather than arriving with a list copied from a forum (verify with e-EFKA).

A Greek prescription is issued into a national system and then executed at a pharmacy. You get a choice about how you receive it.

The paperless option (ayli syntagografisi) runs through the gov.gr digital portal. The official service guide describes it as receiving the details of medicine prescriptions or examination referrals by message or email instead of in printed form, and states that it lets patients with a chronic condition receive a prescription remotely, without a visit to the treating doctor. You activate the service once and choose whether the details arrive by SMS or by email, and the guide states that activation is done separately for each dependent family member. The message carries the barcode and the period for which the prescription is valid.

At the counter the pharmacist executes the prescription using the barcode you were sent. The same guide states that if you have lost the message, the pharmacist or the doctor at a diagnostic centre can search electronically for prescriptions or examination referrals still pending against your AMKA number, and that a one-time password is then sent to your registered mobile or email for you to pass on. It also states that a prescription can be collected by a relative of the first or second degree, or by a third party you have authorised at a KEP office or electronically through gov.gr.

If you do not activate the paperless service, the doctor gives you a printed prescription and the pharmacy works from that instead. Neither version is more valid than the other, so do not delay treatment because the app side is not set up yet.

A Greek pharmacy (farmakeio) carries a green cross and is a dispensing pharmacy first. The cosmetics and household aisles that a US or UK shopper associates with a drugstore are a much smaller part of the business, and a lot of what you expect to find on a shelf sits behind the counter.

• The pharmacist controls prescription medicines. Anything on prescription needs the electronic script filed against your AMKA, or a valid cross-border prescription from another EU country.
• Non-prescription medicines are a defined official category. The Greek Ministry of Health publishes price bulletins for non-prescription medicines (MI.SY.FA.) and updates them periodically. Ask the pharmacist rather than self-selecting, and give the active ingredient rather than the brand name you know from home, because brands differ between countries.
• Opening hours run on a rota. Pharmacies take turns covering evenings, nights, Sundays and public holidays. The rota is organised locally rather than nationally, and the list of pharmacies on duty near you is published by your regional authority and local pharmaceutical association. Find out where yours is published before you need it at eleven at night (verify the current rota with your regional authority).
• Some medicines are not dispensed at a normal pharmacy at all. EOPYY runs its own pharmacies, and publishes a searchable list of EOPYY pharmacies by prefecture with addresses and opening hours. Its site also carries a separate directory of service points for the distribution of high-cost medicines. If a doctor prescribes something in that category, ask where it is collected before you walk to the corner pharmacy.

Pharmacists in cities and tourist areas often speak English. Do not assume it in a village, and keep a written list of your medicines by active ingredient and strength in your phone.

What you pay depends on whether you have Greek entitlement, and on the medicine.

EOPYY's national contact point states that "only medicines that are included in the positive list of prescription medicines are reimbursed", and that "the reimbursement of the medicines is according to the insurance price valid in Greece, reduced by the amount of patient's co-payment". Medical devices and products are reimbursed only where they are provided under the Unified Regulation of Health Benefits (EKPY). High-cost medicines for chronic or rare diseases, and IVF medicines, are reimbursed only where prior approval has been obtained from an EOPYY health committee.

The co-payment percentages themselves are not published on that page. It directs enquiries about medicines to d6@eopyy.gov.gr and about medical products and devices to d8.t7@eopyy.gov.gr, so ask EOPYY directly for the rate that applies to a named medicine rather than relying on a figure from a forum.

Two situations are simpler than the above. If you are not yet entitled, you pay the full retail price at the counter, and you should ask for a receipt in case you can claim it elsewhere. Non-prescription medicines are paid in full by everyone.

An EU prescription and a US prescription are not the same problem.

For prescriptions issued elsewhere in the EU, EOPYY's national contact point page on cross-border prescriptions, last updated on 3 July 2025, states that prescriptions issued for a named patient in another member state can be dispensed in compliance with national legislation, and that you present "a printed or handwritten cross-border prescription in a Greek pharmacy". It lists what the prescription must contain: your surname, first name and date of birth, the date of issue, the prescriber's full name, professional qualification, contact details, work address including country and signature, and the medicine's common name, format, quantity, strength and dosage. Ask your prescriber at home for that format specifically, because an ordinary domestic script often omits the prescriber's country.

A US prescription is not a cross-border prescription in that sense, and that EOPYY page does not address non-EU prescriptions. Plan on seeing a Greek doctor and having the medicine re-prescribed locally. Bring the original prescription, a letter from your prescriber naming the active ingredient, strength and dose, and a note of what you have already tried, because that is what shortens the appointment.

Controlled medicines are a separate regime again, with a Schengen travel certificate that is issued for a limited period. That certificate covers carrying medicine on a journey. It is not a way to keep an ongoing prescription running once you live in Greece, and treating it as one is a common and expensive mistake.

The gap that catches families is the one between arriving and being able to prove entitlement. As EOPYY's own guidance shows, entitlement is evidenced by a certificate from the body insuring you, or by contribution status in Greece, and neither of those is created by the act of moving. Meanwhile you still need appointments, prescriptions and occasionally a hospital.

Private medical cover is what usually carries that period for visa holders and new arrivals. It is designed to pay for consultations, diagnostics and hospital treatment through a policy rather than out of pocket at a private clinic, which matters most in the weeks when you have no AMKA, no EOPYY registration and no personal doctor yet.

Read the policy for the things that decide whether it helps you in month one rather than month six: when cover starts, how pre-existing conditions are handled, whether outpatient prescriptions and repeat medication are inside the benefit at all, whether you claim reimbursement or the insurer pays a provider directly, and what the position is once Greek entitlement does come through. Those are questions with answers in your own policy wording.