Medicines worth €2.6bn passed through EOPYY pharmacies in 2025. Yet the system meant to ensure they are accurately recorded, monitored and checked has significant gaps.
That is the main conclusion of Report 1/2026 by the Hellenic Court of Audit, which exposes weaknesses in the management of one of the most costly and sensitive activities in the public health system.
The value of medicines handled by the organisation’s pharmacies rose 13% in a year, from €2.3bn in 2024 to €2.6bn in 2025. The figure is based on procurement prices, excluding VAT and before negotiated discounts, rebates and clawbacks.
No checks since 2015
Despite the scale of their activity, the organisation and operation of the pharmacies had not been examined by EOPYY’s Internal Audit Unit by the time the audit was completed.
More tellingly, there was no evidence that the organisation’s central bodies had carried out checks during the period under review at most of the pharmacies examined. In some cases, the last administrative inspection reported dated back to 2015.
EOPYY has yet to draw up its internal organisational framework, more than ten years after its establishment (Law 3918/2011) and organisational restructuring (Law 4238/2014). The report acknowledges the difficulty of doing so, given the organisations that were merged into EOPYY and the nature of its responsibilities, as well as the steps taken towards drawing up the framework.
However, the long-standing absence of an internal organisational framework makes it difficult, if not impossible, to identify the needs of each pharmacy, allocate posts rationally, draw up job descriptions and assign the necessary specialist staff to ensure the pharmacies fulfil their mission effectively. Although staff do all they can to keep the pharmacies running smoothly, the fact that a large proportion of their staffing needs are met by fixed-term employees poses a risk to their continuous and efficient operation.
The Hellenic Court of Audit examined 14 pharmacies from a network of 39 units at the time of the audit, since reduced to 37. At each pharmacy, it checked 20 medicine product codes, selected on the basis of their value and frequency of distribution.
Stock discrepancies
Auditors found discrepancies between the quantities recorded in the information system and those held in physical stockrooms. In several cases, stocktakes were not carried out within the prescribed timeframe or using the required procedures.
Some differences were linked to outstanding items from previous years that continued to be carried forward in the books. At two pharmacies with a high volume of work, the opening balance was not shown in the information system, making it difficult to determine the value and quantity of closing stock.
The discrepancies were not always accompanied by the required explanations, and procedures for notifying the relevant bodies were not followed in every case.
Software shortcomings
The problems extend beyond stocktakes. At the time of the audit, the information system could not automatically track medicine expiry dates while products were in storage. Staff checked them manually, using their own judgement and records kept outside the system.
At the same time, the information system has no safeguard to trigger an automatic alert when stocks are at risk of running out or fall below the safety threshold. As a result, ordering depended to a significant extent on employees’ experience. Auditors also found cases in which medicines already in stock were ordered, despite no consumption having been recorded in previous months.
Pharmacies could not directly view the stock held at other units in real time. When a medicine was unavailable at one location, finding it elsewhere required contacting the central service or coordinating with staff at other pharmacies.
Understaffing and internal audit
The report links some of the operational problems to staff shortages and the absence of a comprehensive internal organisational framework, despite provision for one dating back to 2014.
At several pharmacies, staff took on multiple duties, from receiving medicines to stocktaking, limiting the scope for independent checks of each process. Staffing needs were often met through fixed-term contracts or secondments.
The Hellenic Court of Audit also found that a comprehensive Internal Control System had not been established, with documented fiscal risks and corresponding safeguards to address them.
EOPYY, for its part, pointed to the organisation’s digital transformation as a way to address technological shortcomings. According to information cited in the report, new management software had been put into pilot operation at the Agia Paraskevi pharmacy in November 2025.
The report does not quantify any financial loss or substantiate the loss of medicines of a specific value. It does, however, record that key monitoring and control procedures were not operating as fully as required.