Oct 22 (Reuters) -

U.S. retailer Walmart ( WMT ) on Tuesday said it will start

delivering prescription medicines and medication refills along

with groceries and other items as a single order within 30

minutes, upping the ante in its delivery competition against

Amazon Inc.

Walmart's ( WMT ) move comes a couple of weeks after Amazon ( AMZN )

announced plans to open pharmacies offering same-day delivery

options across 20 new U.S. cities in 2025. It is also an

extension of Walmart's ( WMT ) previous efforts to mail prescription

medications which typically took at least five to seven business

days.

The speedier prescription delivery service would compete

against other same-day pharmacy delivery offerings provided by

retailers such as CVS Health ( CVS ) and Walgreens.

Walmart ( WMT ), which operates 4,600 U.S. pharmacies and 3,000

vision centers across the country, said its pharmacy delivery

service would be free for members of its $98 per year Walmart

Plus membership program while non-members need to pay $9.95.

The service will be available to customers in 49 states by

the end of January next year. Currently, customers in six

states, namely Arkansas, Missouri, New York, Nevada, South

Carolina and Wisconsin can use the service.

Walmart ( WMT ) said it decided to launch the service after more

than half of respondents in an internal consumer research survey

expressed a desire to have prescription medications delivered

along with groceries and other items in one order.

Walmart ( WMT ) will use drivers from its Spark Driver gig-delivery

network to make some of these speedy deliveries, a company

spokesman said in an email. The company also employs other

options to deliver orders within 30 minutes, such as drones.

Barring controlled substances, refrigeration items and

Medicare Part B products, such as wheelchairs and oxygen

containers, all medications are delivery eligible.

When customers place a pharmacy delivery order through

Walmart's ( WMT ) app or website, they must agree to terms allowing

Walmart's ( WMT ) pharmacy staff to contact their physicians and provide

counseling by phone, the spokesperson said.

A delivery timeframe does not begin until prescriptions are

authorized by a customer's physician. Once approved, customers

can add the medications to their cart and pick either same-day,

on-demand or express delivery timeframe, the spokesperson added.

This prescription delivery service is Walmart's ( WMT ) latest

effort to focus on its pharmacy network, following its decision

to close 51 health clinics and its virtual healthcare operations

in April.