Kazakhstanis often find themselves in a situation where a pharmacy dispenses only part of a prescribed medication — for example, a single blister pack of tablets — and the pharmacist keeps the prescription. The Committee for Medical and Pharmaceutical Control has explained how to purchase the remainder of the treatment course in such cases, according to infohub.kz.

By law, if a medication is dispensed in parts, the pharmacy must keep only a copy of the prescription and return the original to the patient. However, there are nuances.

"If the medication is dispensed in an incomplete package or incomplete quantity, the pharmacist notes the actual quantity dispensed on the back of the prescription. This prescription is returned to the patient, while a copy remains at the pharmacy — this allows the actual dispensed volume to be recorded and treatment not to be interrupted," the agency explained.

It is with this document that a citizen can later purchase the remaining medications.

At the same time, there are exceptions. The prescription remains at the pharmacy and is not returned to the patient if it is issued for medications subject to special accounting, or for other categories of prescriptions for which the rules explicitly require storage at the pharmacy.

These categories include, in particular, prescriptions for medications containing narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and their precursors, as well as for medications subject to subject-quantitative accounting.

The Committee also noted that a regular prescription is valid for one month, while a prescription for medications containing narcotic drugs, psychotropic and potent substances is valid for 15 calendar days.

"If the quantity of the medication specified in the prescription is dispensed by the pharmacy in full, repeated use of the same prescription to obtain a new batch of the medication is not provided for," the agency explained.

Earlier, a Kazakh woman complained that she encountered different rules for dispensing medications at Almaty pharmacies: in some places the prescription was kept, in others it was returned, and in some it was not even requested.