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Background: The first online pharmacy (soma.com), started in the United States in 1999, a decade later, e-pharmacy industry has transformed owing to the rise of online shopping, electronic health solutions and direct-to-consumer healthcare. With over 35,000 online pharmacies worldwide, developing countries like Uganda are seeing the emergence of online pharmacy services yet there is limited data on their readiness to provide these services. We evaluated readiness to offer online pharmaceutical services in Kampala Metropolitan Area (KMA). Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted in 272 retail pharmacies selected by proportionate stratified random sampling from Kampala, Wakiso, Mukono, and Mpigi districts of KMA. Data to assess human resource and technological readiness was collected quantitatively using a questionnaire while assessment of legal and regulatory readiness was done qualitatively using key informants (regional managers of National Drug Authority). Descriptive statistics was conducted for quantitative data and thematic analysis was done for qualitative data. Results: Majority, 222 (95%) of the pharmacies engaged in online pharmacy services offering; tele-pharmacy 189 (85%), home drug delivery 141 (64%), e-prescriptions 97 (44%), home delivery with follow-up 94 (42%), prescription reminder services 79 (36%), and online consultations 75 (34%). Only 23 (10.4%) of online pharmacies had good human resource readiness, 124 (55.9%) had good technological infrastructure readiness and only 20 (9%) had good readiness for both Technological infrastructure and Human resources. Findings also showed a lack of specific regulations and legal frameworks for online pharmacies, minimal enforcement on the quality and authenticity of products sold online, and minimal public awareness and education on online pharmacy services. Conclusion: The majority of the pharmacies in KMA practiced some online pharmacy with over half of the pharmacies having the necessary infrastructure and the majority lacking the human resource requirements for online pharmacy services.
Wadada et al. (Thu,) studied this question.