Free Pharmacy

Unfortunately there are over 277,000 people in Israel that gave up on prescribed drugs in the last year, because of financial hardship or lack of proper health insurance.

Although everyone in Israel has health insurance coverage, the 4 major health insurance companies in Israel (Kopot-Cholim) have introduced 3 new tiers in the last decade, Silver, Gold, and Platinum, which demand a substantial additional cost that is not affordable for the average family. Most will remain with the basic level Bronze which provides minimum coverage that is often inadequate for severe medical conditions.

This is where Haverim Le’Refuah comes into the picture.

Since 2003 they have been recycling/reusing unused medications that are being donated by families of people who passed away and left a medicine cabinet full of “treasures” or by ill people that moved from one medication to another with lots of medications leftover – unused.

Due to the fact that in Israel most medications come in a blister-pack with an expiration date and a batch code printed on the back, re-distributing these medications was approved by the Israeli government and ministry of health.  Nonetheless, there are substantial costs in running the program and there is minimal government funding.

As of 2019 there are 840 donation drop-off locations throughout Israel.  240 of them are in “Super-Pharm” the biggest pharmacy chain store in Israel which agreed to place drop-off boxes in all their stores, starting March 1^st 2019.

6000 packages collected every single day by special temperature monitored vehicles which collect the donated medications from the drop-off points.

19 retired volunteer pharmacists, overlooked by 4 licensed employed pharmacists, then do a rigorous sorting process of the collected medications.

The valid medicine will be uploaded to a database and placed in the drawers or shelves of the Free-Pharmacy located in Bnei-Brak. These, often life-saving, expensive  medications are being sent to people who cannot afford them because their insurance will not cover the costs. All distributions are verified with by the recipients providing a  valid doctor’s Prescription, medical record, and 3 months’ worth of bank statements. This vetting process is always expedited, done same day it was received.

In the sorting process, medications found to be expired or unfit to be transferred are disposed in a Green-Facility.

These expensive, life-saving medications are are being delivered to  patients throughout Israel FREE-OF-CHARGE!

Major pharmaceutical companies have now joined in our cause and donate short-dated medications (6 months and under from the final expiration date) that are usable but are not permitted by the Israeli health-law to be sold to pharmacies.  These contributions from the pharmaceutical companies boosts the success rate of the program to 98%.

Currently 5000 patients are being supported by this program on a monthly basis with an increase of 80-100 patients every month. Last year alone, an estimated 82 million Israeli Shekel’s – $24 million – worth of medications were distributed free of charge.

The total operating costs of the operation is about $1,000,000 a year. 

Please consider partnering with us –  your donations are life-saving.

In addition to collecting unused medicines from private individuals, the many pharmaceutical companies you see below have begun to provide us with free or deeply discounted medicines, often very expensive medicines, for those unable to afford them.