Your Personal Chemist

At an estimated $15 bn, the Indian pharmaceutical industry is the third-largest in the world by volume and it has been growing well.

However, substantial challenges exist that keep the system opaque to the common consumer-and don't allow the benefits to trickle down to the common man. Healthcare is one of the areas where the actual payer/consumer of products has little understanding and influence in the purchase decision, making the sector prone to misguided expenditure and cost burden on the consumer. The cost of quality medicines in India is still surprisingly high, and there's a stark lack of awareness on medical issues, including generic drugs.

After receiving our degrees from Harvard and Stanford, respectively, and having worked in the US Healthcare industry, Sameer Maheshwari and I decided that the Indian healthcare market was ripe for a disruptive technological intervention. Could we combine the benefits of mobile and web to create a solution that empowered consumers and made them more aware of what they were being prescribed? Something that allowed consumers to search for the best alternatives at the most affordable prices and at least have a conversation with the doctor or pharmacist to work towards a better outcom-medical as well as economic? And could we make it reliable enough by bringing trusted vendors, pharmacy stores, and other stakeholders to a common platform?

It sounded exciting and daunting at the same time. We saw what massive transformation such a solution could bring about, and also how intractable the Indian market is. But finally, our conviction won over our apprehension, and in a few months' time HealthKartPlus was born. Of course, it wasn't at all easy going!

Initial Hurdles

Among the foremost initial challenges was quality of data. There could be no compromise on this as the premise of the endeavor was based on providing accurate information. Compounding the challenge was the fact that there was no unified source of data and no common format followed by vendors. In the absence of this, data integrity would always be a problem. Towards this end, a special team of pharmacists was formed, who for six continuous months worked incessantly to acquire data from leading medical journals, scientific journals, research publications, etc. Gradually the project gained critical momentum, the result today being a verified database of over 100,000 drugs.

Our next challenge was accessibility; we had to ensure that the information presented was palatable to the layman. This called for simple and legible communication that people could use to solve their everyday medical problems. The effort to create usable, informative content lasted for the next few months, and the in-house product design and tech team was devoted to developing a custom platform to dispense this information effectively. Further, in order to maximize our reach, we expanded to all major desktop and mobile platforms.

One peculiar challenge during this whole process was lack of a standard format. For instance, it's fairly common for the same medicine to have different name formats in different vendor software. Needless to say, it would only create confusion at the consumer end. To address this, we developed a strong vendor support system to bring information onto a common platform. Our team of pharmacists made the exacting but necessary effort to individually map each multiple-format medicine to a standard common format used by us, working closely with the vendors. To gauge the success of the project, one only needs to look at the number of satisfied users we have today.

We strived to make the medical database available on HealthKartPlus more accessible. This led to an extension of HealthKartPlus website to the mobile app, which is available across the three predominant Operating Systems, viz. Android/iOS and Windows 8. This App, which has been downloaded over 75,000 times and is receiving over 10,000 visitors every day, has become an instant success. The app serves as a medical dictionary for the layman, along with having utility for physicians, medical students, nurses and other healthcare professionals. The information provided includes an explanation on how prescription medicine works, as well as the concomitant precautions and contraindications. Combined with an extensive catalog of medical solutions, this is a revolutionary tool for preliminary diagnosis, medicine comparison, best price-point, etc. With this app, you can simply upload the prescription, place orders and refer to records of previous prescriptions. A dedicated team of pharmacists and experts read the prescriptions that are uploaded, so rest assured, there would be little chance of error in the order you have placed.

The cost of medicines has always been a major concern in India and is being addressed neatly by HealthKartPlus. The database of over 100,000 drugs and wide network of pharmacy stores enables customers to compare and discover relevant and cost-effective generic drugs. Facility of online purchase makes it convenient to order medicines.

The reception of the website and app on mobile platforms speaks for itself, with over a-million visitors and 75,000+ downloads of the app. Although the pharmacy network currently exists only in Delhi/NCR, it will soon expand to other cities in a phased manner.

Business Model

The business model of HealthKartPlus is tied to the online transactions completed by consumers. The pharmacy partners pay a small commission to HK+ for bringing them orders , and as volumes drive up, so will the profitability. As consumer usage increases, we would try and also introduce other monetization models through advertising-however we are going to keep the offering free for consumers
That said, we are also keenly aware of the nature of healthcare and the associated social responsibilities. The HealthKartPlus app is an initiative to spread awareness for the society to understand substitute and generic drugs available, and is thus provided free of cost.

The Response to HealthKartPlus Concept

We are glad to witness the enthusiastic reception HealthKartPlus has received. The opinion leaders in the mobile app space have endorsed the app. A major achievement was winning the m-Billionth award for the m-Health application for South Asia this year. The jury included eminent opinion leaders from across the spectrum, including experts working with government organizations as well as non-profits.

The response from telecom operators, government, users, and VAS players further strengthens our position. The consumers and healthcare professionals have adopted the concept well, which is evident in the rapidly-growing usage of the service. The high level of consumer satisfaction is reflected in the 4.5/5 rating received by the app on the Android platform.

Vision for Future

Technology has the potential to transform lives. We believe nothing demonstrates this better than the small but conclusive impact by HealthKartPlus. Our vision is to scale up the operations so that the solution can reach to every corner of the country, empowering consumers and caregivers like never before. Given the pressing need to introduce transparent and pocket-friendly solutions in healthcare, we are very enthusiastic about the future of HealthKartPlus.