Maintaining the Healthcare Supply Chain Continuum amidst COVID-19

By Vivek Tiwari

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How did MedikaBazaar, India’s largest online B2B medical supplies aggregator, manage to keep the healthcare supply chain intact during the COVID-induced lockdown?

 

The ecosystem of the entire healthcare industry has changed. Nobody in their wildest dreams predicted that a pandemic can really impose such a tectonic shift in such a short span of time. The pandemic, the exponential growth in virus infections meant that the lockdown was probably the only option available in absence of the vaccine. The lockdown means the whole of India just stopped. Only services which contribute to the saving and sustenance of a human life are allowed to continue operations. Thankfully, the Government recognized the vitality of our services t to society’s functioning, exempting us from the lockdown under the ambit of ‘Essential Service Providers.’ But when everything else came to a halt, then the whole supply chain infrastructure just got crippled and movement of stocks became almost impossible.

Being India’s largest online B2B medical supplies aggregator, it was a huge responsibility upon us right from the start of the lockdown to cater to hospitals in a manner only we can. Our entire business model is based on establishing a seamless supply chain infrastructure in the farthest corners of India. So when the lockdown hit and the supply chain crumbled, we were faced with a huge dilemma: how to provide more efficient services than before when logistics network is constantly worsening.

We mobilized our staff across all our locations, arming them with the right information on how to operate in each area and providing prerequisites for individual safety. The lockdown imposition created many hurdles in the normal operational process. One noteworthy obstacle was the implementation of government directives at the local level. Local authorities continued to curb the movement of sales and delivery personnel and halt goods from being transported for a, one can argue, plausible reason of preventing transmission of the virus; but there were clear government directives to allow movement of essential goods between two locations. We had to improvise in various ways, like printing raw stickers on sides of vehicles, as ‘Essential Service Providers’ and encouraging employees to wear the company uniform, carrying IDs and donning protective equipment at all times. Necessary papers were provided wherever possible.

Right from the start, personnels were completely equipped with protective gear, and all locations were furnished with essentials to keep our ‘family’, as we like to call out team, free from hazards. Social distancing practices and restriction of entry to third-part non-essential members were other operational guidelines. The aforementioned operations and delivery services were and continue to comply with government rules and regulations. We consider ourselves to be working hand-in-hand with the government to eradicate this pandemic.

We planned the application of precautionary strategies well before the lockdown imposition, distributing available stock to our 20+ Fulfilment Centres (FCs) and Central Distribution Centres (CDCs) spread across India to prepare them for all upcoming contingencies, after taking relevant measures to understand product requirements in each region. Once the lockdown was initiated, we relied on our ground team.

Our logistical framework including our delivery team, the MBGo, have proved to be one of our most valuable assets, delivering urgently required medical supplies to hospitals and other customers. While most of our staff were quarantined and trying to operate at maximum capacity, it was the last-mile delivery personnel who are taking risks to complete the orders within timelines.

We adopted methods like Drop Shipping and Cross Docking, concepts which are really custom-made for times like these. We pick up quantities in bulk from manufacturers and cut them into smaller quantities then and there, for dispatch towards final location, eliminating the need for warehousing. For remote areas like the North-East, we use Drop Shipments to pick up supplies from the manufacturer and deliver directly to the customer. Time is the most precious commodity today. It has always been.

During the same time, our sales force continued to work tirelessly to obtain requirements. We are committed to working even more efficiently to deliver even as logistics faces a consistent breakdown. All our FCs and CDCs are operational even with skeletal staff. Our team, whom we like to call the Medikabazaar family, are engaged in procuring, stocking and delivering in a streamlined fashion.

Finally, recognizing the growing disparity between the demand and supply of COVID essentials, we put together COVID Combat Collaboration Platform within a week, a single-roof platform for customers, suppliers and experts of COVID products to come together and collaborate with each other so patient treatment is not compromised. The platform is now live on the Medikabazaar website.

Everything, you must understand, is subject to improvisation as per the changing situations outside. Managing WFH like all other companies and managing the salesforce, operations and logistics to walk broken supply chain was a unique experience. We are most glad to say that we are still continuing with respectable levels of success, which creates a win-win for all stakeholders, most importantly, the community.

As restrictions are being eased out gradually, a semblance of normalcy can be expected in the supply chain infrastructure in the coming weeks. Movement of goods and trucks at an interstate level are allowed now. We face no more policy challenge.

However, one must realize that supply chain is a people-dependent function, especially blue collared migrant labourers, who are truck drivers, haulers, loaders. A large part of migrant labours have returned or are returning to their hometowns, possibly for distress relief, and atleast for the time being, is going to create a major manpower crunch which can most unexpectedly cause another impediment to supply chain operations in next few months. Maintaining continuity in logistics and supply chain is going to a daunting task in the wake of lack of manpower, retaining the available resources and keeping the motivation high will be imperative along with smart planning to tide over the looming crisis.


Author : Vivek Tiwari, CEO, MedikaBazaar