The Chief Medical Officer, Mecure Healthcare Limited, Dr. Adekunle Megbuwawon, has said that technology innovation will help to stem the menace fake and counterfeit drugs in the country.
It would be recalled that the latest study by the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) and the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) revealed that 17 per cent of general drugs in Nigeria are substandard.
As of March 2019, World Health Organisation (WHO) and NAFDAC partnered to follow up the quality of essential medicines, especially anti-malaria, and they found out that about 1.3 percent of anti-malaria drugs are substandard/falsified in the Nigerian market.
Megbuwawon said Nigeria is already infamous for counterfeit drugs and furthermore the pricing and availability is highly volatile, adding that, with Mecure SmartBuy, an e-commerce platform for all healthcare needs, all of these concerns are addressed since Mecure offers 100 per cent genuine drugs at a flat discount with doorstep delivery.
He said Healthcare in Nigeria is a significantly underpenetrated market and presents a massive opportunity for disruption by startups that can use the right mix of technology innovation and smarter operations.
MeCure SmartBuy seems to have hit a sweet spot in this regard, clocking nearly 50,000 user registrations and thousands of orders within six months of launch, says Megbuwawon.
“The startup offers a smartphone app that provides free doctor tele-consultations along with home delivery of medicines and diagnostic services in Lagos. To continue its growth momentum, SmartBuy is now targeting the B2B segment through tie-ups with Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs), hospitals and corporate institutions by offering them attractive discounts on medicines for their customers and employees,” he added.
The Chief Medical Officer said so far, the app has already started pilot operations with more than 10 organisations and is in various stages of discussions with several more, adding that it is technically a no-brainer for their clients, hence the reason for the rapid growth.
With about 4000+ signups in a single day, he said the pace of growth also comes with its own set of challenges from a tech and operations perspective.
In response, the Chief Technology Officer at MeCure SmartBuy, Adil Shaikh said, “It was a crazy time for our tech team, as we had to ensure our network infrastructure could scale and support this huge spike in traffic. While we did run into some minor issues, it gave us a clear indicator with regards to the demand for our offering and validated the magnitude of the problem that we are trying to solve.
“From the time an order is placed on the app till the time our delivery agent hands over the medication to the customer, we track each and every interaction minutely. We can track the exact location for each of our delivery agent in real time. This helps us understand bottlenecks and optimize our operations on a daily basis.
“Constant feedback from our customers is also helping us improve and expand our offerings. Tech is only an enabler, executing to delight the customer is key. I think if you look at our reviews from customers on the app stores you will understand how seriously we pay attention to detail. If your customer is not happy, nothing else matters.”