None of the hospital executives that we spoke to were buying from Udaan. However, Udaan has a presence in the retail chemists market.

Ruhi Kandhari

Thanks, Ashwin. StratMed connects hospitals and manufacturers to each other, Medika Bazaar is an online platform and Aknamed is the distributor itself. I am sure there is going to be some overlap in the market they are targeting. Secondly, hospitals buy capital equipments once in a while, some devices like stents and drugs regularly. So if a company can sell all of the above it can get more business from each hospital. However, it would depend from hospital to hospital, they can pick and choose who they want to buy which product from.

Ruhi Kandhari

Thanks. 1mg and Ascent Health that is now merged with Pharmeasy did try but abandoned it. One of the reasons was long credit cycle.

Ruhi Kandhari

Yes it is, Nirupa. However there are people who pretend to be doctors, run clinics and prescribe medicines in India, who are in fact not doctors. This chart shows how medicine is practiced on the ground.

Ruhi Kandhari

Thanks Balaram and Burry. I have written two stories on primary care in the past. You can find them here - https://the-ken.com/story/aap-universal-healthcare/ and https://the-ken.com/story/gates-foundation-primary-healthcare/ . You can find all the stories on the healthcare sector written by me here - https://the-ken.com/writers/ruhikandharigmail-com/ and in health specific narratives here - https://the-ken.com/all-narratives/

Ruhi Kandhari

Hi Sheji. They use a software that is attached to the billing software used by drug distributors. This helps them track the flow of medicines.

Ruhi Kandhari

MDIndia Health Insurance TPA and Paramount Health Services and Insurance TPA are two other top TPAs in India. Among the top 3-5 TPAs, some have high number of hospitals empanelled with them, some have high revenue and others manage a larger number of lives.

Ruhi Kandhari

Ujjval, that kind of granular data should take a couple of months. In the meantime, you could read the FICCI EY report on the sector available here - http://www.ficci.in/pressrelease-page.asp?nid=3677 . Also here are some of our old data based stories on the healthcare sector - https://the-ken.com/story/big-hospitals-lean/ , https://the-ken.com/story/indian-hospitals-greener-pastures/ and https://the-ken.com/story/kkr-radiant-max-hospital/

Ruhi Kandhari

Hi Nupur, we have covered the finances of hospitals in detail in the past. https://the-ken.com/story/big-hospitals-lean/ , https://the-ken.com/story/indian-hospitals-greener-pastures/ and https://the-ken.com/story/kkr-radiant-max-hospital/

Ruhi Kandhari

You are right, Kalyan. Teleconsultation is a complex and evolving story. It deserves a whole article.

Ruhi Kandhari

Hi Nupur, the story is neither arguing for a bailout, nor is it saying that the doctors who can afford to take salary deductions should be paid. It indicates that if a sector faces losses then not just well paid doctors but other staff like the nurses, ward boys etc become vulnerable. Their livelihood and their loves are at risk. And I agree with you that it is a system failure. The public health system should have been much better prepared for infectious diseases and even pandemics.

Ruhi Kandhari

The doctors and entrepreneurs I spoke with plan to use tele-consultation as much as possible for skin diseases, pre and postnatal care services, Aishwarya.

Ruhi Kandhari