USAID-Supported SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Finance Facility join hands with StratMed to strengthen India’s healthcare delivery infrastructure

The SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Financing Facility has committed INR 2.95 Cr (USD 421K) to StratMed to support their tech-enabled platform linking all key stakeholders in the healthcare supplychain ecosystem - including hospitals, manufacturers and suppliers. The initiative aims at improving cost-efficiency, quality and outcome focused in the traditionally undeserved regions. SAMRIDH is a multi-stakeholder innovation and financing platform supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by IPE Global. Through blended financing solutions, it offers both grant and debt financing provision to scale high impact health solutions that can strengthen healthcare delivery in India.

India currently has nearly 59,000 private hospitals, that are primarily standalone doctor owned hospitals/clinics in lower socio-economic zones in metros and Tier 2 and 3 cities that do not have effective technological solutions for management of their services, nor do they have access to a wide range of vendors and manufacturers to optimize their costs and material consumptions.

StratMed aims to revolutionize procurement in the healthcare sector by creating the world’s first fully aggregated healthcare supply chain ecosystem. Through this partnership, StratMed will gain access to affordable finance and technical assistance to expand the operations of its technology driven platform, Integer™. With this collaboration, StratMed aims to onboard 300 hospitals in Tier 2 and 3 towns and will create a “multisided business model”, enabling effective engagement among diverse players within the healthcare ecosystem. This will also bring transparency of information to drive down the costs and consumption for the hospitals and better Sales & Operations Planning (S&OP) for Supply Chain Partners.

Speaking about this partnership, Mr. Himanshu Sikka, Project Director, SAMRIDH said, "We are excited to partner with StratMed to make high quality medical consumables and drugs accessible and affordable to hospitals in Tier 2 and 3 cities, specifically those covered under PM-JAY and state health insurance schemes. Through our expertise in innovative financial instruments, we aim to enable StratMed in strengthening its presence in underserved regions and opening newer markets to manufacturers and suppliers.”

Dr. Sameer A. Khan, Founder & CEO of StratMed said, “We are pleased to receive this support from USAID-Supported SAMRIDH initiative. We believe in enabling a level-playing for equitable and sustainable healthcare infrastructure growth. Our Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning driven platform Integer™ is changing the way supply chain and consumption planning is managed across hospitals in India. Our collaborative eco-system scaling approach has benefitted both our hospitals and supply partners. With support from SAMRIDH, we will now be able to scale our operations and penetrate deeper into India’s healthcare system.”

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ABOUT THE U.S. AGENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT (USAID)

USAID is the U.S. Government’s premier international development agency and a catalytic actor driving development results. USAID works to help lift lives, build communities, and advance democracy. USAID’s work advances U.S. national security and economic prosperity; demonstrates American generosity; and helps countries progress along their development journey. In India, USAID is collaborating with the country’s growing human and financial resources through partnerships that catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship to solve critical local and global development challenges. To learn more, visit www.usaid.gov/india

ABOUT THE SAMRIDH HEALTHCARE BLENDED FINANCE FACILITY

SAMRIDH Healthcare Blended Finance Facility is supported by the United States Agency for International Development in technical collaboration with Atal Innovation Mission & Women Entrepreneurship Platform, NITI Aayog, Principal Scientific Advisor to the Government of India, the National Health Authority, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Rockefeller Foundation, Axis Bank, IndusInd Bank, Caspian Debt and NATHEALTH, and is managed by IPE Global.  Through this initiative, SAMRIDH combines commercial capital with public and philanthropic funds to drive greater resources towards market-based health solutions that can improve access to affordable and quality healthcare services for India’s most vulnerable.

SAMRIDH is recognised among ‘India’s top 50 COVID-19 last mile responders’ by the World Economic Forum. The initiative is also the winner of the 2022 P3 Impact Award 2022 led by the Office of Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State, Concordia, and the University of Virginia Darden School of Business Institute for Business in Society. To learn more, visit www.samridhhealth.org

ABOUT IPE GLOBAL LIMITED (IPE GLOBAL)

IPE Global is an international development consulting group - the largest in South Asia - providing technical assistance and solutions for equitable development and sustainable growth in developing countries. Headquartered in New Delhi, India with seven international offices in Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Kenya, Philippines and United Kingdom, the Group offers a range of integrated, innovative and high-quality consulting services across several sectors and practices. These include Health, Nutrition & WASH, Social Economic Empowerment, Urban & Infrastructure Growth and, Education & Skills Development to name a few. IPE Global has successfully undertaken over 1000 assignments in over 100 countries and, over the years, has transformed the lives of over 600 million people globally. To learn more, visit www.ipeglobal.com

About StratMed­

StratMed, India’s first Healthcare Group Purchasing Organization (GPO), strives to improve the productivity and efficiency of healthcare providers by optimizing cost & formulary, driving supply chain transparency, and facilitating industry benchmarking. StratMed endeavors to bring Providers, Payors & Suppliers on the same platform to enable collaborative efficiencies.

StratMed leverages industry best standards and principles on Lean Supply Chain and Data Analytics and incorporates them into its network. To learn more, visit www.stratmed.com