Korean pharmacies: prescriptions, what you can buy, and bringing medicine home
Why the clinic sends you to a separate pharmacy, what you can buy without a prescription, and what to check before taking Korean medicine through customs at home.
Korea separates prescribing from dispensing. In most cases the doctor writes a prescription and a pharmacist fills it at an independent pharmacy — usually on the ground floor of the same building or next door. That is why you leave the clinic with a slip of paper rather than a bag of pills.
How a prescription visit works
- Pay at the clinic desk. You receive a printed prescription.
- Take it to any pharmacy — you are not obliged to use the one downstairs, though it will stock what that clinic usually prescribes.
- The pharmacist prepares the medicine, often in daily packets marked for morning, lunch and evening.
- Pay at the pharmacy separately and ask for the receipt.
- Check the prescription's validity period printed on it; an unfilled prescription expires.
From my own visits: Korean pharmacies often combine several tablets into one small packet per dose, labelled only with the time of day. That is convenient until you want to know what is in it. Ask the pharmacist for the medication information sheet (복약안내문) listing every drug by name, and photograph it. You need it for your doctor at home and for customs.
Without a prescription
Pharmacies sell over-the-counter medicines — common painkillers, cold and digestive remedies, wound care — and pharmacists will advise on minor problems. A limited list of basic medicines is also sold in convenience stores, which helps at night. Stronger painkillers, antibiotics and most post-surgical medication need a prescription.
Verify before you rely on this: Which medicines are prescription-only, which may be sold in convenience stores, and pharmacy opening rules are set by Korean regulators and can change. Late-night and holiday pharmacies rotate; the Korean map apps show which are open.
Taking medicine home
- Keep medicine in its original packets with the pharmacy's information sheet.
- Carry a copy of the prescription or a doctor's note in English for anything strong — painkillers, sedatives, sleep aids.
- Check your own country's import rules. Some substances legal in Korea are controlled elsewhere, and quantity limits apply.
- Keep medicine in hand luggage, with enough for delays.
Don't combine Korean prescription medicine with medicine you brought from home without telling the doctor or pharmacist what you already take. Bring a written list of your regular medications, with generic names, to every consultation.
Sources
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