RX Click – An online pharmacy marketplace offering innovative solutions to insistent needs

Today, thanks to the concept of online marketplaces such as Shopee and Lazada, we can answer our customer’s most essential and diverging healthcare needs of procuring medicine online. Yet, on the other hand, we have a rising gap in the availability of healthcare services. There is a need for a range of solutions to connect disruptive technology with the existing and futuristic customer and industry needs. And that’s the idea behind the RX Click mobile app – An online pharmacy marketplace that connects you to pharmacies and pharmacists near you, giving Malaysians greater accessibility to healthcare.

Exploring the existing healthcare needs through an online pharmacy platform

The healthcare situation in Malaysia has improved significantly over the past few years. One of the major indications is our current average life expectancy rate. The average life expectancy in Malaysia is almost 76 years, a commendable statistic for 33 million inhabitants. We can attribute a crucial part of this reason to our public healthcare facilities. Over the past decade, we have been answering a considerable portion of our healthcare needs through public sector undertaking while keeping the participation of the private players considerably low. We managed just fine, but the tables have turned in recent years.

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Statistics reveal that as of 2020, there were around 156 government hospitals and 219 private hospitals. To quantify this, we have approximately 1.98 beds for every 1000 residents and 1 set of medical staff (doctors and nurses) for every 186 people. This ratio is far better than the prescribed WHO goal; one medical staff set for every 225 patients. However, there is still a sizeable gap in our healthcare facilities to be addressed, especially those located in the outskirts of the city.

This gap in healthcare services became critically evident in Malaysia’s fight against the pandemic. An alarming example was the situation in Klang Valley hospitals where we struggled to make more beds available, converting even other wards into critical care units to accommodate the rising number of patients. While we needed such measures for our fight against the pandemic, it affected the availability of medical services for the patients who needed medical attention for serious conditions other than Covid-19. Though the government has decided to allocate more funds to prevent such situations and strengthen its healthcare solutions, we also need an alternate measure.

In this current scenario, an easy and affordable solution is to reimagine the current technology available – utilising the online space for medicine delivery in Malaysia as an alternative to support the current healthcare needs.

Strengthening the Delivery of Health Services through Digital Devices and Online Services

Hospitalisation and the availability of medical attention are primary healthcare concerns our government faces. Most of us have the common misconception that we could get quality medical treatment only through in-patient services. It might be true for critical health conditions. However, expecting the same for domestic medical conditions is taking a toll on the availability of free beds for other acute medical conditions. We need to change this outlook to bring in a positive change in the availability of medical facilities.

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Statistics show that from 2012 to 2019, one of the top reasons for hospitalisation in Malaysia is pregnancy, childbirth and puerperium or post-partum, followed by other medical concerns. Towards the end of 2019, there was a spike in hospitalisation cases due to Covid-19. We can treat some of the situations mentioned in this report through an alternative approach that employs Digital Devices, Teleconsultation and Online Medicine.

For example, the woman and the child need close monitoring at least six weeks after pregnancy. In such cases, instead of hospitalising the mother and child, we can look into solutions to provide the same medical care through Digital Apps. Using Digital Apps, the patient can consult with a professional pharmacist, clarify her medical concerns, and order essential healthcare requirements like medicines and health supplements online. This way, the mother can rest and improve her health from the comfort of her home, while getting her medication delivered to her doorstep.

Before the advent of technology, such healthcare services were restricted to a certain few. However, with the availability of modern-day digital technology, instant communication has been made possible for people like you and me to enjoy, especially from the comfort and safety of one’s home. And that is precisely what the RX Click core team has ventured into – Affordable healthcare pharmaceutical services for the common Malaysian anytime and anywhere.

The idea behind RX Click and its significance

The entire idea behind this online pharmaceutical marketplace is to bring one particular medical background to the forefront – Pharmacists. Many of us forget that pharmacists have certifiable medical knowledge and that they can offer critical and valuable medical insights. By tapping into the medical background of a pharmacist, we can expand the range of pharmaceutical services considerably. Such measures will reduce the pressure on our frontline workers like doctors and nurses.

In 2020, right when the pandemic was creating havoc across the country, few creative minds came together with an idea for a digital platform operating as an online pharmaceutical marketplace. The central vision for this marketplace is to provide and support the rising demand for essential medicines and healthcare services.

While there are online marketplace models readily available in the market, RX Click stands a class apart with its unique offerings. The core team of this platform discovered that not all customers were satisfied with the range of offerings that a particular pharmacy was providing, may it be brick and mortar pharmacies or online pharmacies. Hence customers were compelled to move from one pharmacy to the next in search of their requirements. Such outcomes, especially during a pandemic, left customers anxious and confused about their medical worries. RX Click simplified this process by bringing the customers and pharmacy logistics together under one digital platform.

The RX Click platform provides convenience by simplifying procuring drugs, beauty & healthcare products and offers top-tier pharmacist consultation services for its users. This way, should the users have any medical queries like vaccination queries, pharmaceuticals, healthcare supplements, mobility equipment etc., they don’t have to wait for a doctor to get these things sorted. They can consult their local pharmacist and get their medication delivered as and when it is needed. This way, with the online pharmacy marketplace model, the customer’s needs are answered without exerting any additional pressure on our existing frontline workers.

To wrap it up…

An online pharmacy marketplace should be a medium that is more than an online drug store. It should be an e-commerce ecosystem equipped with services and solutions, connecting the patient’s essential and pharmaceutical healthcare needs with the critical and respective requirements like express delivery, pharmacist consultation and more. This simple understanding is the core of RX Click’s business model. By offering easily accessible and affordable pharmaceutical services online, we can drastically reduce the load on our existing healthcare and medical system. RX Click strives to achieve this mission – one click at a time.

References

27Group. Does Malaysia have sufficient capacity to handle a medical emergency? August 20, 2021.
Research Gate. Top 10 Causes of Hospital Admission in Malaysia.
Statista. Number of public and private hospitals in Malaysia from 2013 – 2020. January 13 2022
Statista. Major causes of hospitalization in Malaysia in 2019. April 7, 2021.