The partnership has cut down delivery time of medicines to 30 minutes, can prove to be a game-changer for emergency delivery of medical supplies in future
In the wake of COVID-19 outbreak, Medikabazaar has signed an MoU with Zipline. The partnership has cut down the delivery time of medicines to 30 minutes and can prove to be a game-changer for the emergency delivery of medical supplies in the future. The service is expected to become operational by the end of this year or the first quarter of 2021.
As part of the tie-up, Zipline will serve over 100 customers of Medikabazaar from two distribution centres in Pune and Nandurbar districts. The former has already partnered with the Govt of Maharashtra and Serum Institute of India (SII) to build and operate the aforementioned distribution centres. Their collaboration with the MedTech company will further create value to hospitals within the service range of 85 kms. It can also be used to process doorstep delivery of medical supplies within the containment zones or potential hotspots if the outbreak remains intact or during future outbreaks. The partnership will further provide real-time visibility of on-ground demand throughout the healthcare system.
Over the next few months, Medikabazaar and Zipline plan to onboard several hospitals and integrate the instant delivery service seamlessly into their existing ordering platforms. The hospitals can order directly with Zipline’s ordering system that will be linked to the Medikabazaar platform. The list of medical products would include critical life-saving and cold-chain-dependable pharmaceuticals amongst other essential supplies.
The association will help Medikabazaar disburse critical, life-saving medicines to hospitals in less than an hour. The Maharashtra project will further lay the foundation for extending this service to other Indian states at a later stage.
Commenting on the partnership, Vivek Tiwari, Founder and CEO, Medikabazaar said, “Our tie-up with Zipline will help resolve the issue of emergency medical supply in two ways. First, it will assist in the timely delivery of essential medical items, and second, it will also reduce the risk of disease contraction by eliminating close human contact from the supply chain. We are confident that, once operational, the partnership will extend its purview beyond populous localities to other inaccessible regions to save as many lives as possible.”
Keller Rinaudo, CEO, Zipline commented, “Zipline has been hard at work helping other countries respond to the pandemic. We’re proud to partner with MedikaBazaar, a true leader in healthcare innovation, to begin helping in India as well. We’re likely in for a long-term fight against COVID-19. Using contactless drone logistics will be an important tool in that effort. The work we hope to do here in India will provide the rest of the country with a blueprint for how to build the most resilient and responsive healthcare system possible.”