CCMDD is the Central Chronic Medicine Dispensing and Distribution programme run by the National Department of Health. It lets stable patients on chronic medicine collect repeat prescriptions from a pick-up point instead of queueing at a clinic.
Official contact channels
- National health helpline: 0800 012 322
- National WhatsApp: 0600 123 456
- Email: [email protected]
- Anti-corruption hotline: 0800 701 701
- Each province also runs its own CCMDD helpdesk, listed below
The programme publishes Please Call Me numbers as well as toll-free lines, which is the detail that matters most if you have no airtime. Send a Please Call Me and the helpdesk calls you back.
What this organisation provides
- Free collection of repeat chronic medicine from an approved pick-up point
- Pre-packaged parcels dispensed centrally and delivered to the collection point
- An alternative to clinic queues for patients whose condition is stable
- Coverage for chronic conditions including HIV treatment, hypertension and diabetes
- Registration done through your clinic rather than directly with the programme
You cannot enrol yourself by phoning the helpline. Registration happens at the clinic that issues your prescription, and only once a clinician regards your condition as stable, so the first conversation is with your facility.
Address and operating information
- Eastern Cape helpdesk: 087 821 2181, WhatsApp 081 868 3762, [email protected]
- Free State: 087 821 2779, WhatsApp 066 534 1563, [email protected]
- Gauteng: 087 821 2778, WhatsApp 063 768 5325, [email protected]
- KwaZulu-Natal: 087 821 2777, WhatsApp 067 935 6774, [email protected]
- Limpopo: 087 820 0804, WhatsApp 071 041 3106, [email protected]
- Mpumalanga: 087 821 2780, WhatsApp 078 889 3787, [email protected]
- North West: 087 821 2782, WhatsApp 063 457 2279, [email protected]
Regional toll-free support lines run alongside the provincial helpdesks. Eastern Cape, Free State and Mpumalanga share 0800 272 222, with WhatsApp 057 814 5987 and Please Call Me 079 226 4493. Gauteng, Limpopo, Northern Cape and North West share 080 151 6176, and KwaZulu-Natal has 0800 21 23 50, both with WhatsApp 087 240 7171 and Please Call Me 060 529 8793.
Note that no separate Western Cape helpdesk is published, and the Northern Cape is served by a shared regional line rather than its own desk. Patients in those provinces should start with their clinic or the national helpline.
Support and escalation routes
- A parcel that has not arrived: your provincial helpdesk, with your identity number ready
- Registration, prescription changes or moving your pick-up point: the clinic that enrolled you
- Corruption or the demand for payment for a free service: the anti-corruption hotline on 0800 701 701
- Poor service at a public health facility goes to the Office of Health Standards Compliance and the Health Ombud
- Conduct by a pharmacist or pharmacy is a matter for the South African Pharmacy Council
- Provincial health departments run their own complaints lines for facilities in their province
CCMDD medicine is free at the point of collection. If anyone asks you to pay to collect a parcel, or to pay to be registered, that is the reason the anti-corruption hotline exists and it should be reported.
Sources
- National Department of Health CCMDD contact page, health.gov.za, read 4 September 2026