New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that CVS and Rite-Aid have agreed to provide prescription-medication instructions to New York state customers in their primary language.

The pact follows complaints made to the AG's office, including the nonprofit organization Make the Road New York, that pharmacy giants routinely fail to advise non-English-speaking customers in a language that allows them to understand the purpose, dosage and side effects of their medications.

New York law requires pharmacists to personally provide information about prescription drugs to all patients, orally and in writing, and prohibits pharmacies from conducting business in a way that discriminates against non-English speakers. It is estimated that there are more than a million New Yorkers who do not speak English well or at all.

Officials said CVS and Rite-Aid, which also owns Eckerd and Genovese pharmacies, will counsel all pharmacy customers about prescription information in their own language and provide written translations in Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, French and Polish.

Some 2,000 pharmacy outlets across the state will now advise customers on prescriptions.