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MyDawa App promises cheaper prescriptions drugs delivered via phone

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 27 – An Irish investment company ION Equity has launched an e-health innovation facility dubbed MyDawa.

ION Equity Chairman and Chief Executive Neil O’Leary says his company has invested US$5 million, equivalent to Sh514.2 million, in the platform that is a first of its kind for the company and in Kenya.

The innovation will enable Kenyans to purchase quality medicine from the convenience of their smartphones by simply taking a picture of their prescription and sending it via the app.

The company will package the requested medicine and drop it off at a pharmacy of the customer’s choice.

“MyDawa innovation really is about convenience as customers will no longer need to hang around a chemist or a hospital as his or her medicine is being fetched. It really cuts on time wasted,” O’Leary said.

The company has collaborated with 150 pharmacies in Nairobi where drop offs can be made.

Apart from convenience, the innovation also works on ensuring the customer accesses quality medicine, something that is hardly ensured in the medicine supply chain.

“The innovation also counters counterfeit medicine, and works on ensuring a customer access properly stored medicine, something that is a bigger issue than people may actually care to acknowledge,” MyDawa Managing Director, Tony Wood said.

According to Wood, improper storage of medicine is one of the biggest challenges that the innovation seeks to address.

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“The ease of getting products these days has meant that goods move around too much. In the instance of medicine, this moving around can compromise on the quality of medicine.”

Additionally, the app will cut the cost of MyDawa branded medicine by up to 40 percent while also ensuring the medicine are of good quality. Medicine by other companies will, however, have market prices.

Customers will have to wait for only 4 hours to get their medicine. The service is therefore not recommended for emergency cases.

“Kenya has managed to distinguish itself with matters mobile based technologies. One only need to look at the success of M-Pesa,” O’Leary said.

He adds that the innovation was best to launch in Kenya based on the culture by Kenyans of being independent. “You really cannot convince a Kenyan on something, they either want it or not,” he explains.

“You really cannot convince a Kenyan on something, they either want it or not,” he explains.

The app will be available on app store with plans to introduce it on feature phones in the near future.

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