An apparatus 20 is described that is specifically adapted for use with adispensing containercomprising a tray with one or more discrete cavities for receiving medicationand a seal. Thetray includes a machine-readable marker that encodes a unique identifier forthe tray and the sealincludes a pre-defined area for thermal printing. The apparatus 20 includes areader 26 adapted toread the marker on the tray and to obtain, from the marker, the uniqueidentifier for the tray. Theapparatus also includes a controller 22 adapted to receive patient-specificinformation 24 and toassociate the patient-specific information with the unique identifier for thetray, and a medicationdispenser 30 for automatically filling one or more cavities of the tray withmedication withreference to the patient-specific information associated with the uniqueidentifier. A sealing unit36 is adapted to automatically apply the seal to the tray. The apparatusincludes a thermal printhead 40 adapted to thermally print human-readable information on to thethermoprint ink patchbefore, during or after the seal has been applied to the tray. The thermallyprinted human-readable information is directly derived from at least some of the patient-specific informationassociated with the unique identifier.
