Good morning! I am flying out of Japan (through Singapore) in a couple of months, and I am wondering how to prove that I have been prescribed a certain medicine, since the pharmacy that I collected it from took the prescription from me. Does anyone know what the best way to prove that I have been legitimately prescribed this medicine is? Thanks!
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Did you pharmacy not provide you with a little book that lists your meds? Or accompany every last pill with three pages full of information including your name?
I have flown with meds for 15 yrs to 40+ countries including Japan at least 50 times. Never ever been even asked
The pharmacy gives you a book with your prescriptions in it.
If the pharmacy doesn’t give you a book with your prescription/prescription history, you can also try directly asking the pharmacy for a copy of your prescription history.
My pharmacy doesn’t give the little booklets out, BUT they keep a track of prescriptions via your hoken number, name and date of birth. I go to a small neighborhood pharmacy so my experience is atypical from the majority. I asked for a copy of my prescription payment history in January (for payment and tax purposes for the US side) and it listed all the medications I take, dosage, when it was filled, who prescribed it, where it was prescribed from and the price before and after insurance. The head pharmacist hanko’d it on the bottom right with the store’s name.
You can try asking if you don’t have the booklet. The worst they can say is no or they don’t have a digital record of it (which I’ll find hard to believe). Again, my experience is probably because I go to a small neighborhood pharmacy.
Honestly they’re probably not even going to ask. Flown to and from Japan multiple times with a bunch of loose pills in my carry-on, not always prescribed, with no issues.
Even when I randomly got searched at KIX once I just described everything in my pill box and they took my word for it.
Ask your doctor for a copy of the rx for traveling purposes.
Ask your doctor for a copy of the rx for traveling purposes.
Go back to the clinic that prescribed it and ask for a copy.
Be careful as a prescription alone may not be enough. It will depend on how restricted it is in Singapore. Best to probably to start by asking the airline and on the Singapore side.