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

Abstract

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.

Utilization and expenditure on long-acting insulin analogs among selected middle-income countries with high patient co-payment levels: Findings and implications for the future

“…We adopted a mixed approach depending on the current situation within the chosen countries. This builds on similar research activities among other LMICs as well as previous research projects surrounding the utilization and expenditure of medicines to treat patients with COVID-19 among African and Asian countries (Godman et al, 2020c;Haque et al, , 2021bHaque et al, , 2021cKibuule et al, 2021;.…”

“…Utilization patterns in Nigeria will subsequently be compared to utilization and expenditure patterns on the different insulins, including insulin glargine, in Bangladesh and Kenya. This will be supplemented by the considerable knowledge of the senior level co-authors working across multiple African and Asian countries to provide future direction similar to other studies (Godman et al, 2020a(Godman et al, , 2020c(Godman et al, , 2020dHaque et al, 2021c;Ogunleye et al, 2020;.…”

“…We did not seek ethical approval as we were not dealing with patients, in line with national legislation and institutional guidelines (Godman et al, 2020c;Haque et al, 2021bHaque et al, , 2021c. Besides, community pharmacists and drug store owners taking part in this study freely provided the requested information after being given the opportunity to refuse to participate if they wished.…”

“…It is, therefore, important to offer choices of different insulin preparations where possible given concerns with sub-optimal adherence to insulin therapy among patients (Davies et al, 2013;Peyrot et al, 2012;Spain et al, 2016). The patient benefits of long-acting insulin analogs are potentially further enhanced during religious festivals such as Ramadhan Hassanein et al, 2017).…”

Influence of The COVID-19 Pandemic on Parenting Stress Across Asian Countries: A Cross-National Study

“…In some areas in India, the standard of living remains low [49]; thus, economic poverty may have been directly related to high parenting stress. Furthermore, insu cient mental health care systems [50], labor shortages, high population densities that make it easier for infections to spread, and shortages and price surges of face masks and other protective equipment may also have contributed to the high levels of parenting stress [51]. Moreover, it was noticed that many of the respondents in India were men (64%).…”