Profile of online drug purchasing in marketplace by students at a Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences in Jakarta, Indonesia

Abstract

Background: Digitalisation has increased the level of expenditure on online healthcare products. Various drug categories, ranging from over-the-counter to prescription-required drugs, are available online. Currently, no data on drug purchases in the Indonesian marketplace can be found. However, data from the Indonesian Internet Service Providers Association (APJII) in 2019 shows that 92.1% of students are internet users. Objective: The study aimed to investigate drug purchasing trends in Jakarta, with a particular focus on students enrolled in the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Methods: A descriptive-analytic approach with a proportional stratified sampling technique was applied. The data collection period was between February – May 2022. Results: Approximately 52.6% of the respondents reported having purchased drugs in the marketplace, especially vitamin or supplement products, comprising 47.4% of the purchases, followed by over-the-counter drugs at 36.8%, and finally, prescription-required drugs at 16.8%. In addition, only 10.5% of respondents said there was a request for a doctor's prescription by a supplier. The information provided by suppliers, age, and availability of various drug products correlated with drug purchases in the marketplace (p<0.05). Conclusion: Healthcare students often purchase drugs in the marketplace, including prescription-required drugs that should only be available with a doctor's prescription. To ensure safe drug purchasing, strict regulations and supervisory functions are necessary.

What influences consumers’ online medication purchase intentions and behavior? A scoping review

“…Again, the evidence is contradictory. Five studies reported that more older consumers purchased from online pharmacies (Brown and Li, 2014; Cokro and Arfenda, 2023 ; Desai et al, 2015 ; Jairoun et al, 2021 ; Soboleva et al, 2022 ), whereas three studies found the opposite ( Szekely et al, 2015 ; Van Buskirk et al, 2016 ; Vera-Martínez, 2023 ). In many studies, higher education was associated with increased purchase (e.g., Rajamma and Pelton, 2009 ; Brown and Li, 2014 ; Szekely et al, 2015 ; Roblek et al, 2018 ); however, Jairoun et al (2021) found that consumers with less education were more likely to purchase medicine online.…”

“…The studies included in this review reveal that the availability of various drug products and more options ( Little et al, 2020 ; Cokro and Arfenda, 2023 ), wide-spread availability ( Tang et al, 2023 ), and 24-h availability ( Tang et al, 2023 ) were primary motivators for purchasing medication online. Unavailability in the local market ( Abanmy, 2017 ; Bowman et al, 2020 ) and drugs not for sale in a country ( Koenraadt and van de Ven, 2018 ) were also positively related to increased purchase behavior.…”

“…Some information source-related factors enhancing purchase behavior included word-of-mouth from friends ( Almomani et al, 2023 ), social media marketing ( Anis and Tan, 2023 ), influencers’ endorsements ( Almomani et al, 2023 ), information provided by suppliers ( Cokro and Arfenda, 2023 ), reviews from other consumers ( Almomani et al, 2023 ; Anis and Tan, 2023 ), and interactions with healthcare providers ( Desai et al, 2015 ; Almomani et al, 2023 ).…”

“…Perceived risk (financial risk, physical risk, source risk) Varghese Assin et al (2022) Web-based payment Almomani et al (2023) Lack of accountability Almomani et al (2023) Engaging in an illegal behavior Almomani et al (2023) Prior experience Prior experience of purchase good online Frontiers in Pharmacology frontiersin.org et al, 2021); information quality on e-pharmacy websites (Adjie et al, 2023); recommendations from family, friends, advertisers, or cultural sources (Hu et al, 2021); recommendations from others (Moureaud et al, 2021); social influence, such as interactions with or persuasion by friends and families (Srivastava and Raina, 2020;Sabbir et al, 2021); and subjective norms, which is the perceived social pressure or expectations regarding a behavior (Adjie et al, 2023;Han and Han, 2023). Some information source-related factors enhancing purchase behavior included word-of-mouth from friends (Almomani et al, 2023), social media marketing (Anis and Tan, 2023), influencers' endorsements (Almomani et al, 2023), information provided by suppliers (Cokro and Arfenda, 2023), reviews from other consumers (Almomani et al, 2023;Anis and Tan, 2023), and interactions with healthcare providers (Desai et al, 2015;Almomani et al, 2023).…”

Assessing knowledge and practice of online medication purchasing: A pilot study

“…In Indonesia, a study on health content access behaviour stated that 95.56% of 674 respondents sought online drug information (Kristina et al, 2019). Another survey on health students in Jakarta stated that they often purchase medicines in the marketplace, including prescription-required medicines (Cokro et al, 2023). Growing concern about online drug selling has led the Indonesian government to draw up BPOM regulation No.…”