Flipkart Health+, the digital health business of e-commerce platform Flipkart Group, has launched its mobile health app.

This comes three months after the company first entered the healthcare space by acquiring a minor stake in e-pharmacy startup SastaSundar.

According to a press statement, the Flipkart Health+ app is providing access to medicines and other healthcare products and services. It combines SastaSundar's existing network with the Flipkart Group's reach and last-mile supply chain capabilities.

Initially, the mobile health marketplace platform will offer products and services offered by over 500 independent sellers who have a network of registered pharmacists for the validation of medical prescriptions and accurate dispensation of medicines. The app has yet to onboard third-party healthcare service providers offering services such as teleconsultation and online diagnostics.

Flipkart has also set up quality checks and verification protocols to facilitate the delivery of genuine medicines and other healthcare products to customers.

The Flipkart Health+ app is currently available for Android devices and will soon come to iOS.

WHY IT MATTERS

The ongoing pandemic has enabled Indians to receive healthcare services online, the demand for which is further lifted by increasing internet penetration and e-commerce adoption, according to KPMG. The Indian digital health market is expected to be worth $6.4 billion by 2024 from $1.5 billion in 2018, growing at a 27.4% CAGR. 

As platforms facilitating health consultations and connecting health systems online have become the new normal, this transformation has made healthcare access seep across India's smaller towns and remote areas, the accounting firm said in an insights report.

"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Indians have witnessed a tremendous shift in favouring wellness and preventative healthcare and there is an increased focus on health and wellness like never before," said Prashant Jhaveri, the newly appointed CEO of Flipkart Health.

With the launch of its mobile app, the company aims to bring access to healthcare products and services across India, particularly in the "remotest parts of the country that have been underserved until now," he said.

MARKET SNAPSHOT

The digital pharmacy company PharmEasy in September last year bought Aknamed, a cloud-based healthcare supply chain platform, as part of its move to diversify its healthcare services.

Early this year, digital pharma marketplace Retailio tried out drone medicine delivery in collaboration with Redwing Labs. The pilot was done in the Chickkaballapur district in Karnataka.