MedPlus launches India’s first pharmacy e-tailer service in Hyderabad

MedPlus, a leading pharmacy retailer with over 1240 stores across India, has launched India’s first of its kind pharmacy e-commerce service – ‘Click, Pick & Save’ in Hyderabad. Very soon the company is planning to expand this service to more than 50 cities in the country.

This is first of its kind service being provided to customers in India. Through this e-tailer service, one can search, select medicines, compare alternatives and place an order or just upload prescription and book order. “The main aim of this e-tailer service is to provide buyers the opportunity to harness the benefits of e-commerce in healthcare like never before,” said Dr Madhukar Gangadi, founder & CEO of MedPlus Health Services.

This new services helps the customers to pick the medicines within 6 hrs from the nearest MedPlus store and can save up to 15 per cent on cost of medicines and 5-30 per cent on FMCG products.

To avail the ‘Click, Pick & Save’ service, pharmacy customers can log onto www.medplusmart.com, search & select (from over 30,000 products) the medicines and FMCG products they need, or just scan & upload their prescription to the site, in which case a MedPlus representative will call and book the order.

As current government regulations do not allow medicines to be delivered to buyer’s homes, customers can pick up their order from their nearest MedPlus store in Hyderabad within six hours of placing an order. The online store offers lucrative discounts and let users book reward points with the FlexiRewards scheme of MedPlus.

“The new initiative is an important milestone for us and we are confident that it will revolutionize the retail pharmacy landscape in the country. Our aspiration is to provide customers with seamless shopping for medicines and other health and personal care items combining offline and online services. With the added convenience and benefits this service brings to the customers, we expect to double our consumer base within a year. We are all set to replicate this model shortly in the 12 states where we have presence,” Dr Madhukar added.

Dr Surendra Mantena, COO, MedPlus Health Services said that the online service not only guarantees availability of quality medicines to all customers anywhere in the city, but also provides valuable information about drug usage, side effects etc, and allows them to compare prices of equivalent brands.

http://www.pharmabiz.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?aid=87587&sid=1

Prospectus for engg, pharmacy courses online

The directorate of technical education released the prospectus for direct admissions to second year of professional degree courses in engineering and pharmacy, online for the first time this year. Like in the case of the Goa common entrance test, no print version of the prospectus will be made available for direct admissions, so students have to print and fill the form on the online prospectus.

The filled forms for direct admissions will be accepted by the directorate from June 24 to 27.

Engineering diploma holders can seek direct admissions to second year professional degree engineering courses in the streams of civil, mechanical, electrical and electronics, telecommunication, information technology and mining engineering, depending on the stream of their diploma degree.

"BSc degree holders shall be considered for admission to vacant seats, if any, under direct lateral entry into second year of degree course in engineering, only after filling the seats with eligible students from diploma stream," stated a provision in the prospectus.

These students will be eligible for admissions to BE degree courses in the streams of electrical and electronics, electronics and telecommunication, computer engineering and information technology.

For the admissions purpose, separate merit lists will be prepared and displayed for engineering courses for all eligible BSc degree holders and eligible diploma holders in engineering. There will also be a separate merit list for all eligible students for the pharmacy course.

All students for direct admissions will be considered only for general seats and no seats will be reserved for any category in the admission process.

The directorate of technical education plans to take all admission process to professional degree courses in Goa online in the near future and as a first step no printed prospectus has been sold this year for admissions to professional degree courses and direct admissions to second year of engineering and pharmacy degree courses.

http://www.goacom.com/goa-news-highlights/25792-prospectus-for-engg-pharmacy-courses-online

Ali Health to become Alibaba's pharmacy platform

After a 15-day share trade suspension, Hong Kong-listed Ali Health Information Technology announced on April 15 that it will acquire online pharmacy assets from its parent company Alibaba Group Holding, the largest e-commerce operator in China.

Ali Health will issue new shares and convertible bonds to Alibaba under the terms of the deal, which is estimated at about HK$19.4 billion (US$2.5 billion).

With the acquisition, Alibaba's stake in Ali Health will increase from 38% to 53%, Shanghai's China Business News reported. Ali Health will also sell convertible bonds to Alibaba, which will further increase the parent company's share to 54.6% if they are exchanged for common shares, the paper said.

As a result, the report said, Ali Health is expected to become the major growth driver of Alibaba's online pharmacy business.

Following the announcement of the acquisition, shares of Ali Health rose about 77% to HK$12 (US$1.54) in early trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange April 15, and the stock ended up 80.83% at HK$12.26 (US$1.57) at close of trade.

The paper said the online pharmacy assets Ali Health will acquire are held under Alibaba's TMall's pharmacy marketplace and include 186 online-licensed pharmacies that sell non-prescription medicines, medical equipment, contact lenses and health food supplements.

In the period March 2014 to March 2015, TMall Pharmacy posted revenues of 4.7 billion yuan (US$758 million), which helped to boost the value of the operations in the acquisition deal, the paper said.

In addition, the pharmacy launched an express delivery service in, Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou in February, allowing consumers to obtain medicine from their nearest bricks-and-mortar drug store within three hours of placing an online order. The service has boosted the value of the pharmacy's operations, the report said.

The 186 online pharmacies that will be transferred in the acquisition deal have Type C certification under China's internet and drug transaction services qualification system, the report said. This will help Ali Health set up a comprehensive distribution network and enhance its efforts to build a cloud computing technology-based medical services platform, according to the report.

Alibaba chief operating officer Zhang Yong told the paper that his group wants to take advantage of cloud computing technology to improve medical services in China.

According to the report, Alibaba is aiming to set up a system, using cloud computing technology that will allow interaction between patients and doctors. Patients will be able to seek advice and doctors will be able to issue prescriptions that can be filled via the group's medical services platform, the report said.

There is much room for growth in China's online medical services if the country lifts its tight controls on that line of business, the paper said.

In the United States, health costs account for about 15% of the country's gross domestic product, but in China with a population of 1.3 billion, the ratio is between 5% and 6%, the report said.

Apart from Alibaba, other two online business giants–Baidu and Tencent–are eyeing the huge growth potential of China's online pharmacy business, the report said.

http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20150419000011&cid=1102