E-pharmacies in India: Can they improve the pharmaceutical service delivery?

Satheesh, Gautam; Puthean, Sandra; Chaudhary, Vaibhav

doi:10.7189/jogh.10.010302

Cited by 9 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Until recently, healthcare in India has largely been funded through out-of-pocket payments, with payments relatively stagnant at between 69% to over 75% of total healthcare expenditure (Kastor and Mohanty, 2018;Selvaraj et al, 2018;Sood and Wagner, 2020). The cost of medicines accounted for an appreciable proportion of this at over 60% of total expenditure and over 70% of out-of-pocket expenditures (Selvaraj et al, 2018;Satheesh et al, 2019), which is similar to other lower-and middleincome countries (LMICs) (Cameron et al, 2009). These out-ofpocket expenses have potentially catastrophic consequences if family members become ill, exacerbated by an increase in noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in India in recent years.…”

Section: Introduction/backgroundmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…The cost of medicines to patients in India have been helped in recent years by ongoing reforms since 2013 to fix prices for essential medicines as well as encourage the prescribing of generic medicines where possible ( HealthWorld, 2016 ; BioVoice, 2018 ; Pavithra, 2019 ). However, concerns have been raised about the knowledge of pharmacists regarding pharmaceutical care, the actual extent of pharmaceutical care activities undertaken in practice, and the continued self-purchasing of antibiotics that exists despite legislation, which along with increased utilisation rates of antibiotics in recent years has led to increased antimicrobial resistance (AMR) ( Satheesh et al, 2019 ; Nafade et al, 2019 ; Farooqui et al, 2018 ; pal Jeyamani et al, 2018 ).…”

Section: Introduction/backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Utilisation, Availability and Price Changes of Medicines and Protection Equipment for COVID-19 Among Selected Regions in India: Findings and Implications

Haque

Kumar²,

Charan

et al. 2021

Front. Pharmacol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: COVID-19 has already claimed a considerable number of lives worldwide. However, there are concerns with treatment recommendations given the extent of conflicting results with suggested treatments and misinformation, some of which has resulted in increased prices and shortages alongside increasing use and prices of personal protective equipment (PPE). This is a concern in countries such as India where there have been high patient co-payments and an appreciable number of families going into poverty when members become ill. However, balanced against pricing controls. Community pharmacists play a significant role in disease management in India, and this will remain. Consequently, there is a need to review prices and availability of pertinent medicines during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in India to provide future direction.Objective: Assess current utilisation and price changes as well as shortages of pertinent medicines and equipment during the early stages of the pandemic.Our Approach: Multiple approach involving a review of treatments and ongoing activities across India to reduce the spread of the virus alongside questioning pharmacies in selected cities from early March to end May 2020.Our Activities: 111 pharmacies took part, giving a response rate of 80%. Encouragingly, no change in utilisation of antimalarial medicines in 45% of pharmacies despite endorsements and for antibiotics in 57.7% of pharmacies, helped by increasing need for a prescription for dispensing. In addition, increased purchasing of PPE (over 98%). No price increases were seen for antimalarials and antibiotics in 83.8 and 91.9% of pharmacies respectively although shortages were seen for antimalarials in 70.3% of pharmacies, lower for antibiotics (9.9% of pharmacies). However, price increases were typically seen for PPE (over 90% of stores) as well as for analgesics (over 50% of pharmacies). Shortages were also seen for PPE (88.3%).Conclusion: The pandemic has impacted on utilisation and prices of pertinent medicines and PPE in India but moderated by increased scrutiny. Key stakeholder groups can play a role with enhancing evidenced-based approaches and reducing inappropriate purchasing in the future.

show abstract

Section: Introduction/backgroundmentioning

confidence: 95%

Section: Introduction/backgroundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Utilisation, Availability and Price Changes of Medicines and Protection Equipment for COVID-19 Among Selected Regions in India: Findings and Implications

Haque

Kumar²,

Charan

et al. 2021

Front. Pharmacol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…In fact, our low-risk pharmacy already makes use of this and provides easy access to these services directly on the product page. According to a study in India [ 120 ], this would help purchases in online pharmacies. Finally, online pharmacies should ensure that the purchase process is as convenient as it can be under the given regulations, including the guarantee of product availability and timely delivery; information about both is essential and should be visible to the customer on the website.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation

Ersöz,

Nissen,

Schütte

2023

JMIR Form Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background Online pharmacies are used less than other e-commerce sites in Germany. Shopping behavior does not correspond to consumption behavior, as online purchases are predominantly made for over-the-counter (OTC) medications. Objective The objective of this study was to understand the purchasing experiences of online pharmacy customers in terms of critical factors for online pharmacy adoption. Methods This study examined the perceived risk, perceived trust, and emotions related to purchasing medications online and, consequently, the purchase intention toward online pharmacies. In a within-subjects design (N=37 participants), 2 German online pharmacies with different perceptions of risk and trust were investigated for their main business, namely OTC and prescription drugs. The results of a preliminary study led to 1 online pharmacy with high and 1 with significantly low self-reported risk by the prestudy sample. Emotions were measured with a multimethod approach during and after the purchase situation as follows: (1) neural evaluation processes using functional near-infrared spectroscopy, (2) the automated direct motor response during the use of the online pharmacy via facial expression analysis (FaceReader), and (3) subjective evaluations through self-reports. Following the shopping experiences at both pharmacies for both product types, risk, trust, and purchase intention toward the pharmacies were assessed using self-assessments. Results The 2 online pharmacies were rated differently in terms of risk, trust, emotions, and purchase intention. The high-risk pharmacy was also perceived as having lower trust and vice versa. Significantly stronger negative emotional expressions on customers’ faces and different neural activations in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex were measured when purchasing prescription drugs from the high-risk pharmacy than from the low-risk pharmacy, combined with OTC medications. In line with this, customers’ self-ratings indicated higher negative emotions for the high-risk pharmacy and lower negative emotions for the low-risk pharmacy. Moreover, the ratings showed lower purchase intention for the high-risk pharmacy. Conclusions Using multimethod measurements, we showed that the preceding neural activation and subsequent verbal evaluation of online pharmacies are reflected in the customers’ immediate emotional facial expressions. High-risk online pharmacies and prescription drugs lead to stronger negative emotional facial expressions and trigger neural evaluation processes that imply perceived loss. Low-risk online pharmacies and OTC medications lead to weaker negative emotional facial expressions and trigger neural evaluation processes that signify certainty and perceived reward. The results may provide an explanation for why OTC medications are purchased online more frequently than prescription medications.

show abstract

“…Satheesh et al (2019) stated Even though healthcare initiatives by the Indian government have improved affordability, the availability of medicines remains standard deficient in the public sector – insisting most of the population to rely upon the highly expensive private sector. India needs a more efficient and reliable pharmacy sector to solve this public health crisis.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comprehensive Review of E-service Quality and Comparative Study Between Online Pharmacies in India: 1mg and PharmEasy

Kumar,

Patil

2023

Jindal Journal of Business Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

E-pharmacies have become the latest trend all over the world, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic started in 2019. While buying online, along with the products/medicines in case of e-pharmacies, people also expect a user-friendly website, prompt and safe delivery, data and payment security, and convenient customer services. Hence, e-pharmacy organizations should satisfy all these factors to be the best in the market, enhance customer experience, and increase customer’s repurchasing intentions. The objective of this research is to compare the e-service quality between two of the top e-pharmacies in India—Tata 1mg and API Holdings Private Limited’s PharmEasy—using the e-service quality hierarchical model developed by Blut (2016). E-service quality is evaluated and compared using the following dimensions: website/application design, customer service, security/privacy, fulfillment, and overall e-service quality from the consumer’s perspective. Findings of the study reveal that there was no significant difference in the quality of dimensions—website design and customer service between 1mg and PharmEasy—while there is a significant difference in the quality of fulfillment, security/privacy, and overall e-service quality between 1mg and PharmEasy.

show abstract

E-pharmacies in India: Can they improve the pharmaceutical service delivery?

Cited by 9 publications

References 2 publications

Utilisation, Availability and Price Changes of Medicines and Protection Equipment for COVID-19 Among Selected Regions in India: Findings and Implications

Utilisation, Availability and Price Changes of Medicines and Protection Equipment for COVID-19 Among Selected Regions in India: Findings and Implications

Risk, Trust, and Emotion in Online Pharmacy Medication Purchases: Multimethod Approach Incorporating Customer Self-Reports, Facial Expressions, and Neural Activation

A Comprehensive Review of E-service Quality and Comparative Study Between Online Pharmacies in India: 1mg and PharmEasy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About