The USAID-Supported SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Financing Facility on Tuesday announced that it has committed INR 2.95 Crore ($421K) to StratMed to support their tech-enabled platform, Integer, linking all key stakeholders in the healthcare supplychain ecosystem – including hospitals, manufacturers and suppliers.
According to the company’s press statement, the initiative aims at improving cost-efficiency, quality and outcome focused in the traditionally underserved regions.
Currently, India has nearly 59,000 private hospitals, which are primarily standalone doctor-owned hospitals/clinics in lower socio-economic zones in metros and Tier 2 and 3 cities. Reportedly, these hospitals do not have effective technological solutions for the management of their services, nor do they have access to a wide range of vendors and manufacturers to optimize their costs and material consumption.
“StratMed aims to revolutionize procurement in the healthcare sector by creating the world’s first fully aggregated healthcare supply chain ecosystem. Through this partnership, StratMed will gain access to affordable finance and technical assistance to expand the operations of its technology-driven platform, Integer. With this collaboration, StratMed aims to onboard 300 hospitals in Tier 2 and 3 towns and will create a “multisided business model”, enabling effective engagement among diverse players within the healthcare ecosystem,” the company said on Tuesday.
This will also bring transparency of information to drive down the costs and consumption for the hospitals and better Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) for Supply Chain Partners, it added.
“We are excited to partner with StratMed to make high quality medical consumables and drugs accessible and affordable to hospitals in Tier 2 and 3 cities, specifically those covered under PM-JAY and state health insurance schemes. Through our expertise in innovative financial instruments, we aim to enable StratMed in strengthening its presence in underserved regions and opening newer markets to manufacturers and suppliers,” Himanshu Sikka, Project Director, SAMRIDH said in a statement.
SAMRIDH is a multi-stakeholder innovation and financing platform supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by IPE Global.