Due to the large number of immigrants living in the New York State area, CVS and Rite-Aid, two pharmacy chains, will advise pharmacy customers New York about prescriptions with written and oral translations in Chinese, French, Italian, Polish, Russian, and Spanish.
This began when Governor Cuomo's office commenced an undercover investigation due to complaints that pharmacies failed to advise non-English speaking customer in a language in which they could understand the dosage, side-effects, and purpose of their medication.
New York State law already requires pharmacists to provide information about prescription drugs to the patients, both in writing and orally.
It appears that more pharmacies in the area will be following the lead of CVS and Rite-Aid in the near future. An estimate of the cost of implementing the governor's mandate was unavailable, however, 2,000 stores and pharmacies would be affected statewide.
17 November 2008