An apparatus and method for packaging individual medication doses in blister bags includes a plurality of storage and dispensing stations, at least one guide and collection arrangement for picking up the medication doses and passing them on, or conducting them, to a packaging station, the packaging station forming a strand of connected blister bags from packaging material. Also included is a labeling and printing station for applying data to the packaging material, an optical detection device that optically detects characteristics of the individual blister bags of the strand, an evaluation device that compares the characteristics detected for an individual blister bag with reference characteristics, and a storage station that stores the strand of the blister bags in an ordered manner.