A tale of missing prescriptions — the biggest road block for e-pharmacies.
Every online pharmacy operating in India also has a tele-consulting service offering bundled as a feature. For customers to avail the “20%-75%” discount, they are required to subscribe to a particular loyalty plan which also unlocks a certain number of free consultations with doctors. One would also find offers on lab tests where customers can simply book lab tests and get mind boggling discounts as compared to the rack rates offered by these labs on walk-ins.
While one might brush this off as another revenue stream to help sustain the e-pharmacy model, this remains a half truth.
India has a huge preventive health care problem.
Periodic general health check ups are virtually non existent unless sponsored by the employer or mandated by the insurance company at the time of a policy issue.
The adherence to follow up consultations and medication schedule for acute or chronic conditions too is very poor. The “feel better” syndrome means patients rarely visit the doctors to update them on their condition post their first consult and either prematurely stop the medications or decide to continue with them if it has resulted in improving their conditions.
Self testing, self interpretation of test results, self medication, expiry and non renewal of existing prescriptions because of lack of followups with the doctors, self or pharmacy induced substitution of prescribed brand / molecule with an alternate brand / molecule are rampant.
We have come across numerous diabetes patients who continue 5–6 year old prescriptions without any follow up consultations by simply monitoring their blood glucose with a glucometer.
We are already seeing the impact of self medication and lack of follow up consultations in our healthcare sector. Rampant misuse of antibiotics, steroids, combination drugs and OTC products have resulted in long term healthcare issues for patients.
Offline pharmacies often turn the other cheek when it comes to vetting the prescriptions for their validity prior to refilling the prescriptions. e-pharmacies because of document trail find it very difficult to overcome this hurdle.
Online consultations of e-pharmacies today aim to bypass regulatory hurdles for patients and e-pharmacies. They also help improve vanity metrics as online consultations too are showcased as a revenue stream.
If done with the right intention, they can have a positive impact on the healthcare ecosystem. e-pharmacies must build better synergies with local GPs and help encourage a system of preventive health by incentivizing periodic consultations, tests and also follow up visits for renewing prescriptions.
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