Documentation

A prescription is a slip provided by the doctor to a patient after the consultation. A prescription will have all the medicines written on it which are required for the patient.

Prescription is mandatory for most medicines as they can’t be dispensed directly to the customers.

Medicines will have a different impact on different human bodies, so there is a need for experts who have a thorough knowledge of the human body and medicines for dispensing the medicines.

Don’t worry, there are Doctors and Pharmacists to take of everything.

As every document has its own authenticity, Prescription has its own, a prescription is said to be valid or invalid depending on the following conditions.

A Prescription is said to be valid only if:

1. The name of the hospital or clinic should be clearly visible on the prescription.
2. The prescription written date should be clearly visible on the prescription.
3. The name of the doctor and his/her qualification should be clearly mentioned on the prescription.
4. Registration number of the doctor is mandatory and should be visible on the prescription either in printed form or in hand-written form.
5. Patient details (Name, Gender, and Age) should be mentioned on the prescription.
6. Diagnosis by the doctor should be mentioned on the prescription.
7. Rx: The name of the medicines along with their dosing frequency should be mentioned on the prescription.
8. Finally, the prescription should be signed by the doctor who wrote it.
9. The prescription should not be too old. The validity of the prescription should be mentioned on it. If validity is not mentioned on the prescription then we will consider the prescription as valid if the prescription doesn’t cross 3 months from its written date.

A prescription is said to be invalid if it doesn’t meet the above requirements.

However nowadays digital prescriptions are provided by doctors. We will approve them after keen observation and verification.

There are 2 types of products generally available in Pharmacies, they are

1. OTC Products i.e., Over the Counter Products – These products do not require any prescription for dispensing.
2. Prescription Required Products – For dispensing or selling these products, Prescription is mandatory.

BuyMeds sells both OTC and Prescription Required Products i.e., Medicines on its Web Portal (i.e., https://buymeds.in). Depending upon the products in the cart i.e., OTC or Prescription Required Products, a column named ‘Prescription is Required’ appears during checkout before payment. The customer has to upload the prescription during checkout and then proceed further to make payment online or select cash on delivery (COD) for completing the order.

I will explain to you step-by-step in detail all the frontend and backend processes that occur during the processing of an order:

From Customer’s End:

Step 1: Customer selects the required products and adds them to the Cart followed by Checkout.

Step 2: Depending on the products in the Cart, a column ‘Prescription is Required’ will appear during the checkout process.

Under the ‘Prescription is Required‘ column, there will be 3 options, they are

1. I have a doctor’s prescription – If the customer selects this option, then he/she must upload the prescription by choosing the prescription files.
2. I don’t have a doctor’s prescription – If the customer selects this option, then BuyMeds affiliated online doctor will call the customer and ask him/her a few queries and write down the prescription for him/her. This written prescription will be automatically attached to the order later by our official team.
3. I already uploaded a doctor’s prescription – This option is only applicable if the customer is ordering the same products again which he/she ordered earlier and received at doorsteps. If this option is selected, the BuyMeds official team will verify the customer’s previous orders for the prescription.

Let us suppose the customer selected the option of ‘I have a doctor’s prescription’, then

Step 4: The customer will choose the prescription file, upload it, and then select any mode of payment available for completing the order.

That’s it the order gets placed from the customer’s end.

Now the Backend Process i.e., From BuyMeds Official Team’s End:

Step 1: As soon as the order is received, first it passes through the Payment Verification Team. If the order is paid online then it is verified for the same. 

Step 2: Soon after that, the order is examined for any Prescription Required Products in that. If any of the products that require a prescription are found, the order is forwarded to a well-qualified pharmacist where he/she observes for any prescription attachments.

Step 3: The pharmacist will verify the prescription for its validity and authenticity. If the pharmacist found the Rx i.e., prescription valid, the order is processed further to the next level of packing and dispatching. 

If the pharmacist found the uploaded prescription as invalid then he/she will call the customer to re-uploading a new prescription with valid details for successful processing of the order or else the order will get canceled. And, the amount if paid online then the refund will be done for the same.

Step 4: If Rx i.e., Prescription is valid, the ordered items are packed and handed over to the delivery service.

Step 5: The delivery service will deliver the package by taking its own time.

This is the entire process of Prescription Flow in BuyMeds.

Adding medicines to the cart is a very simple process. Follow the steps below:

      Step 1: Search for the medicines brands you need. Click on the product name. The product will get displayed on the screen.

      Step 2: Scroll down until you see the “Add to Cart” button. Just click on it, the product will get added to the cart, from then you can proceed to checkout or else repeat the same process for adding more products to the cart.

There is one more way to add products, i.e., medicines, to the cart by clicking on the ‘Add to Cart‘ button displayed over the product when you hover on it on the product catalog page, i.e., shop page.

You can view the products i.e., medicines brands added to the cart by clicking on the Cart icon ([icon name=”cart-plus” prefix=”fas”]) visible on the top.

You can order medicines from BuyMeds in 3 different ways:

1. Searching and Adding Medicines to Cart: By direct searching the medicines using search bar and then adding them to the cart followed by checkout and payment. Prescription should be uploaded for prescription required products. If you don’t have prescription, still don’t worry, our doctor will call you.

2. Using Order by Prescription Form: Directly uploading the prescription using Order by Prescription form. We will refer and confirm the prescription and then the order will be processed.

3. Using WhatsApp: This is the very easiest way of ordering. Just upload the prescription or write down the OTC products name and send it to our official WhatsApp number. We will confirm and then process the order.

Most of the medicines require a doctor’s prescription for dispensing and selling as per Indian Drugs and Cosmetics act rules. The whole process of dispensing medicines should be under the supervision of a well-qualified pharmacist.

In BuyMeds, there is a separate category for such products (medicines brands) that require a prescription known as ‘Prescription Required Products‘. If any product from that category is selected and added to the cart then the customer has to upload the prescription during checkout.

During Checkout, a separate column is seen which states “Prescription is Required“, the customer has to select any one of the options that he/she has the prescription or not. If the option ‘I have doctor’s prescription’ is selected then an uploader will be displayed through which you can browse the files and upload the prescription. If the option ‘I don’t have doctor’s prescription’ is selected then one of the BuyMeds affiliated doctors will call the customer and write down the prescription for him/her.

There is no limit for the number of prescriptions, customer can add as many as he/she can for a particular order.

There will be one more option under the ‘Prescription is Required’ column that is ‘I already uploaded the prescription’. The customer can select this option only if he/she ordered the same items previously and uploaded the prescription in that previous order.

The above workflow chart describes clearly the entire process from order receiving to order delivery that occurs in BuyMeds.

Let us explain to you the process in detail step by step:

1. BuyMeds order products from Pharmaceutical Companies and Distributors and keep them in stock inside Pharmacy outlets.
2. BuyMeds display all the medicines brands and products present inside the outlets on the web portal (i.e., https://buymeds.in) so that the patients or customers can search their required products through the BuyMeds search form.
3. The customers or patients add the required products to their cart after searching them which is then followed by checkout.
4. During Checkout, the web portal will ask for prescriptions depending on the medicines brands added in the cart. Most of the medicines require a doctor’s prescription as per the Indian Drugs and Cosmetics act rules for verification and dispatch. Don’t worry if you don’t have any prescription, we have another option, BuyMeds affiliated doctor will call you and write down a prescription for you. And then, your order will get processed.
5. Then comes the Payment option. The customer or patient will select any of the available options such as Credit Card, Debit Card, UPI, Internet Banking, or COD and carry out the further on-screen process. Finally, the order gets placed by the customer or patient. BuyMeds team will get the notification as soon as order is placed.
6. Now from here, the backend process starts. All of the first BuyMeds team  In check the payment status of the order whether the amount for order is paid online or else its an cash on delivery (COD) order. If it is paid online then the same will be verified against the payment gateway. If the transaction is successful then processing will take the next step.
7. The order is verified for any product that requires prescription. If any prescription required product found, then the BuyMeds team will look for the prescription file if any uploaded to the order during checkout. If no prescription found or uploaded then the BuyMeds team will forward the information to BuyMeds doctors team. One of the doctor will call the customer and ask them to answer few questions. Upon successful verification, the doctor will write the prescription for the customer or patient and submit it to BuyMeds team.
8. If prescription is uploaded to the order then BuyMeds team will forward the prescription to well qualified pharmacist and ask him/her for verification of prescription. Upon successful verification only, the order is processed further or else the customer or the patient is contacted by BuyMeds team for prescription disqualification.
9. Soon after payment and prescription verification, the ordered items will be searched one by one and then packed in a cardboard box. The package is then handled to the courier service. From here the mail role is played by courier service. The courier service should deliver the package within stipulated time.
10. If the order is COD then the delivery boy will collect the amount for the order. The courier service will then transfer the order amount to BuyMeds team. In this way the orders will be get delivered to the patients or customers.

The delivery time of an order depends on the following factors:

1. Location of the customer
2. Delivery i.e., Shipping service
3. The stock of the products ordered
4. Prescription validity and authenticity

The usual standard delivery time of an order is 1 to 5 days if everything goes fine.

If the location of the customer is far away from the BuyMeds associated pharmacy outlets then the delivery of the order may exceed 5 days but BuyMeds will make sure that it doesn’t cross 7 days from the date of order.

BuyMeds always try to maintain sufficient stock as far as possible, however, in some cases, there will be a shortage in stock due to stock shortage from the pharmaceutical distributors and companies. In such cases, the order delivery may take usually a long time.

The delivery service with which we are linked also plays a vital role in delivering the orders. The delivery service in turn depends on weather (atmospheric) conditions for delivering the orders.

Prescription too has its own role in order processing and delivery. If the prescription is verified as valid by the pharmacist then only processing and packing of an order starts. The packed order is then handed over to the delivery agent of the shipping service. So be sure to upload authentic and valid prescriptions if required so as to avoid any delay in the order delivery.