E-PHARMACY
Mr. Mahesh Balwant Yewate
S. R Institute Of Diploma in
Pharmacy Udgir 413517.
October 05, 2022
MY PHARMA ACADEMY
A Review:E-PHARMACY
Abstract
Pharmaceutical industry in India is the 3rd largest and fastest developing industry in India. E-pharmacy or online selling of medicines, helps the patients and the consumers. their medicines delivered at their doorsteps without having to leave their home. E-pharmacies have to take only one license in any state and can sell drugs all over the country even if they have one license.
Keywords
E-PHARMACY, Prescription, Medicine,
1How many E-pharmacy are there in India?
50 e-Pharmacies
Currently, there are close to 50 e-Pharmacies in India and estimates peg the market size (2019) at $ 0.5B – approximately 2-3 percent of the total Indian pharmacy sales. The market is expected to grow at a compounded rate of 44 per cent to reach $ 4.5B by 2025.22-Jun-2021.
Future of pharmacy.
The E-Pharmacy market in India is expected to increase at a higher compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 40-45 per cent in future, backed by the growing internet penetration and digital payments and government support, according to a KPMG–FICCI report.
Model of E- Pharmacy
Business Model
Fig. 2.Business Model of E-pharmacy
How Does E-Pharmacy Work?
As a first step, patients download mobile applications to their phones or tablets. They then create a request for medicines by uploading a copy of their scanned prescriptions to the system. Every drug request entered into the system is controlled by a team of registered pharmacists. Registered pharmacists direct the prescriptions they deem valid to the pharmacy warehouse in the region where the drugs will be given to the patient. This special system can work on a mobile and web basis and is as secure as it is easy to use.
Ex. Pharmeasy.
Benifit of E-pharmacy
E-pharmacies improve customer convenience and access. They also improve access to rural areas where there is limited presence of retail pharmacies.
E-pharmacies are cost effective as they typically offer discounts.
E-pharmacies offer health information like drug interactions, side-effects, warnings and automated medicine reminders which enables the consumer in improving compliance.
online transactions on E-pharmacies can be tracked with complete details of the medicines, batch number and details of retail pharmacy, prescribing doctor and the customer. This can help prevent drug abuse and over consumption.
There are also numerous risks involved with E-pharmacies. One of the biggest concerns is that E-pharmacies dispense drugs against the scanned copy of a prescription. These are easy to manipulate and hence, can result in over use of drugs.
Last, since the internet is easily accessible by minors, they can order medicines online and can consume them without parental supervision. This can lead to drug abuse and over-consumption.
per the Draft Rules, registration is mandatory for any person who wishes to run an E-pharmacy.28 This registration is valid for 3 years29 and can be renewed.
Register E-pharmacy
The E-pharmacy has to comply with the provisions of the IT Act.31
The information received by an E-pharmacy from any customer is not to be disclosed and has to be kept confidential. It can however be disclosed to the Central/State Government for public health purposes. Further, the health information must be stored locally i.e. it cannot be stored or sent outside India.
The supply of any drug to the customer must be made against a cash/credit memo and the record of the same must be maintained.
The E-pharmacy must not sell drugs enumerated under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985 (habit-forming drugs), tranquilisers and Schedule X drugs.
The E-pharmacy is required to have a 24/7 customer support and grievance redressal facility. There should also be a registered pharmacist to answer the queries of customers.
The E-pharmacy is required to mention data such as registration number, official logo of the E-pharmacy Portal, details of the logistic service provider, return policy of the dispensed drugs, name of the registered pharmacist, contact details of the E-pharmacy, and the procedure for lodging grievances.
Conclusion
They can be very convenient and less expensive than traditional pharmacies but always keep in mind the dangers of using online pharmacy.
And when we deal with medicine there are a number of drugs which are under schedule H and schedule X. When this kind of medicine gets easily available to them obviously it will result in the wrong practice of medication.
By weighing the life-threatening risks of self-medication and dosing errors against the benefits of e-pharmacy, we propose – as a matter of public interest – that on-call pharmacists be made available to ensure validity of prescriptions as well as counsel e-pharmacy customers during drug purchase. This precondition for obtaining an e-pharmacy license will help eliminate significant concerns associated with online pharmacies. Moreover, if India succeeds in introducing a professionally rigorous system such as the NABP/VPPS, which can effectively monitor over 250 e-pharmacies that have been introduced recently, the overall health care expenditure can be brought down substantially [8]. An abundance of literature on the internet portrays e-pharmacies as a digital danger, and contributes to its longstanding negative perceptions. Considering India’s growing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, we aim to establish that e-pharmacies can help improve India’s unresolved medication access crisis. However, further research is warranted to confirm this and develop evidence-based policies for e-pharmacies.
E-PHARMACY boon or bane?.
Reference
1.Chetna Desai, Online pharmacies: A boon or bane? 48(6), INDIAN J. PHARMACOL. (2016).
2. Ravinder Singh, Thakur Singh et al., Status Of E-Pharmacies in India: A Review, 20 Plant Archives 3763, 3765 (2020).
3. Chail A, Singh H, Dangi A. Regulating e-pharmacies: Whose job is it anyway? 62 INDIAN J PSYCHIATRY 612 (2020); Diagnosing the issues of E-pharmacies, LAKSHMIKUMARAN & SRIDHARAN, https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=abc79dac-5d18-43e2-9c51-599650b1e6da, (last visited Oct. 30, 2020).. 4.Netmeds, https://www.netmeds.com/upload_prescription (last visited Oct. 30, 2020); 1mg, https://www.1mg.com/order-with-prescription (last visited Oct. 30, 2020).
5.Sarthak Sarin, Bharat Gupta, Evolution Of E-Pharmacies In India – Booming Present, But An Uncertain Future, KHAITAN & CO., MONDAQ, (Jul. 18, 2018), https://www.mondaq.com/india/food-and-drugs-law/720464/evolution-of-e-pharmacies-in-india-booming-present-but-an-uncertain-future.
5.Rule 67(M)(6), Drugs and Cosmetics (Amendment) Rules, 2018
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