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Free Pharmacy Clinics

With the collapse of the Former Soviet Union (FSU), life's basic necessities such as food, medical care, and even ownership of an apartment, was no longer items the average citizen could take for granted. With the change from Communism to a free market economy, and local governments unable to sustain socialized medicine, becoming  sick had increased implications for the frail, poor and elderly.

Transportation was no longer free, going to a State clinic now required some form of payment, and patients had to provide their own medication and syringes if they cared about their hygeine.

In an effort to help these people and also strengthen the value and function of the local Synagogues, GJARN sponosred and helped open numerous Free Pharmacies staffed by local volunteer, retired doctors, equipped with basic diagnostic tools funded by GJARN, and filled with imported free medications collected from doctor samples and overtock donations collected in the USA and then shipped to various destinations across the FSU.

All medication were approved by local doctors and then translated into Russian or Ukrainian, as needed, prior to being shipped or hand delivered by visiting delegations to their final destinations.

Later, GJARn began soliciting local pharmacies in Russia and Ukraine to donated locally produced medications and subsidize more expensive medications to at least make them more affordable, when donated medications were not available.

Times have changed for the better for most people in the FSU, but at the time, and still to date for some, this and many other GJARN sponsored programs meant the difference between life and death!

Mon, November 11 2024 10 Cheshvan 5785