Wellness Medical Introduces Pharmacentre, Online Marketplace
Wellness Medical Limited introduces Pharmacentre Online an integrative marketplace to facilitate consumers’ ease of access to pharmaceutical products.
In a statement signed by the company’s Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Pharmacist Adetutu Afolabi, Pharmacentre Online said, is designed to give consumers the opportunity to access quality medicines and medical supplies with ease online.
According to Afolabi, Pharmacentre online marketplace will assist stakeholders to find solutions to the burden of the drug distribution chain that plagues the nation.
She noted, “Through its interactive and easy-to-use platform, Pharmacentre Online will leverage the huge stock of pharmaceutical products from different licensed pharma merchants to supply to online consumers/businesses via e-orders, as well as serve as a link between consumers and existing physical pharmacies”.
Explaining that Pharmacentre Online stands to be the one-stop-shop for quality and accessible medical supplies.
“Pharmacentre is an online platform that enables licensed medical professionals to sell quality medical products to businesses and consumers alike.
“As an integrative marketplace, Pharmacentre Online integrates consumer-facing (business to consumer selling) and provider-facing (business to business selling) models” Afolabi added.
The versatile Pharmacist lamented the uncertainty and numerous challenges that have plagued the drug distribution networks in Nigeria causing chaos in access to affordable drugs amongst consumers.
She however added that having a value-driven platform like Pharmacentre Online that enhances collaboration amongst pharmacists and other healthcare providers will improve the well-being of Nigerians assuring “nobody would be left stranded because they do not have a pharmacist in their network”.
Afolabi also observed, “Many persons, within the country, are battling chronic health conditions or having challenges in accessing traditional pharmacy services and search for relevant platforms for access to quality medical products.”
She pointed out that while a number of e-platforms in Nigeria exist to cater to this need, there are still very significant gaps in linkages between all points of the pharmaceutical supply chain.
“Also, a bulk of these existing platforms are largely consumer-facing and do not seamlessly solve the need for pharmacies looking to stock medical supplies as well” noted the Pharmacist.
According to Afolabi, “However, only licensed vendors are authenticated to sell on the marketplace”.
She said, “Through the platform, users, whether as individuals or businesses, will be able, not only to get quality medicines from licensed vendors but also be able to get these delivered conveniently to their doorsteps, with the least hassle.
In addition, “Using the ‘Talk to a Pharmacist’ feature as well, users on the platform can easily get first-hand recommendations and prescriptions from licensed pharmacists before purchasing drugs online.
“Vendors on the platform get to benefit from the ease of listing their medical products on the platform, thereby, broadening the visibility of their business and brand.
“They also get to track how their products are faring via real-time marketing reports/dashboards showing sales on the platform. Vendors likewise are able to run promotions on the platform to market their products to a wider viewership as well as flexibly offer discounts on their products”, Afolabi added.
Commending the vision of Wellness Medical Distribution Ltd President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, Prof. Cyril Usifoh, described the initiative of the Pharmacentre Online as “the right step in the right direction, as technology is redesigning everything about human existence”.
Usifoh warned that anyone who fails to embrace technology at the present will be overtaken by technology, as it holds the key to the future.
“I think this is a great thing for pharmacists to have a one-stop-shop to access all their needs. The good thing about it is that pharmacists will always be on the ground to assist operations on the platform, so ethical consideration is taken care of.
Registrar, Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) Dr. Elijah Mohammed, also lauded the introduction of the Pharmacentre marketplace, describing it as “a timely innovation to bridge the gap in the pharmaceutical digital space for younger pharmacists, who lack the financial capacity to invest in technological infrastructure to operate an online pharmacy”.
Mohammed assured the pharma ecosystem of proper regulation of the platform, saying the PCN as the regulator will ensure all stakeholders play the rules and regulations of the Council, as any pharmacist who is not registered with the Council, will not be allowed to operate on the platform.