NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, March 29, 2017

Not many digital healthcare start-up has achieved break-even mainly because of the absence of ‘assisted e-commerce’ in an industry driven mostly by doctors, pharmaceutical companies and their associations.

Slow growth, difficulty in getting all the stakeholders, including consumers, on board, lack of healthcare mentors and medical professionals have made it difficult for these start-ups to take off.

Deepak Tomar, Founder of HeyCare, told BusinessLine: Most healthcare start-ups have turned out to be just e-commerce players selling medicines and other healthcare products, some with discounts. “E-commerce’s success is based on the availability of cheaper and/or branded products. However, the healthcare segment is different from other sectors. No buyer wants to play with health and buy cheaper or generic medicines unless recommended by the doctor,” he said.

Due to this obstacle, most healthcare start-ups are bleeding financially. “Put together, the three-four major healthcare start-ups are getting a meagre 8,000-10,000 orders for medicines per day and 15,000-20,000 orders per day in the case of over-the-counter (OTC) products.”