Experts in a recent webinar suggested for introducing digital solutions in country’s pharmaceutical sector to enhance productivity of the sector.
Fresh investment is needed for the purpose to ensure thriving growth of the sector which will ultimately enrich the national economy, now affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
eGeneration organized the industry-specific series of webinars titled ‘Reimagine Your Business: Navigating Through Economic Challenges and Emerge Stronger Amid COVID-19’, powered by RTV, in partnership with two national dailies.
It discussed how pharmaceutical sector still needs to keep their operations running to support not only the affected but also cater to the general public and how to formulate strategies on staying productive; conduct research and development to create business opportunities; ensure uninterrupted supply chain and logistics support; as well as develop domestic and international markets.
eGeneration brought local experts and business leaders, as well as international experts to this platform who discussed the challenges and solutions faced by the pharmaceuticals sector.
Shameem Ahsan, Chairman of eGeneration Group said, “It is time to restart our journey and to reimagine our businesses. Our concern should not be limited to surviving through the pandemic, but utilize this time to brand Bangladesh as a global pharmaceutical destination and take proper measures instantaneously by investing in global marketing, joint ventures, technology solutions like ERP and analytics, and product innovation through R&D. We need to make foreign direct investment (FDI) easier so that our local pharmaceuticals have enough capacity to invest."
Zia Uddin, Chairman of Active Fine Chemicals Ltd. said, “This is a test for us as a country to maintain our supply chain which may affect the commodity pricings. Our strengths along with our weaknesses will become more apparent during this crisis period. Bangladesh formulates 98% of the drugs domestically. However, our high dependency on imported raw materials is a big threat for us. We need to look into overcoming this inadequacy by building our own capacity in raw materials.”
Sharita Millat, Managing Director of Veritas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. said, “We are eagerly waiting for an effective drug to stop this pandemic, but for now we are leaning more towards the anti-viral medications. The pharmaceutical industry is facing some challenges in the short-run due to lockdown, but we are working relentlessly so that the industry will operate adequately in the long run.”
Azra Salim, Director of Jayson Pharmaceuticals Ltd. said, “Our entire way of working has changed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A pharmaceutical company’s crucial task is to communicate with doctors and work closely with them. However, at present due to social distancing guidelines, we are unable to physically contact doctors, therefore we are moving our sales force activities in a digital platform.”
Afif Mohamed Ali, Country Manager of Microsoft Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei and Nepal said, “Apart from working remotely, I suggest considering employee safety to ensure the health and wellbeing of the pharmaceutical employees and have access to the data, reports and analysis on the latest situation. This is something we can help with crisis communication apps of Microsoft. Finally, I would suggest building operational utility with remote assistance for engineering and front-line employees.”
Ahmed Imtiaz Hassan, Director – Business Development of Aristopharma Ltd. said, “Digital transformation is compulsory for pharmaceutical companies, especially for larger pharmaceutical companies, I suggest implementing SAP S/4 HANA to achieve a smoother operation. Another beneficial solution of SAP is BW/4HANA, a Data Warehouse product for enterprises, which helps with analyzing enormous amounts of data. We are the first company to implement BW/4HANA and SAP analytics which will be ready for implementation post-COVID.”
Rajesh Kuppuswamy, Pharmaceuticals Industry Advisor, SAP India Private Ltd. said, “Countries such as Bangladesh and India are highly dependent on China, and the current crisis has proven the necessity of these countries to reduce its dependency. Nevertheless, Bangladesh has made such a great improvement in the economic and human rights front, which ensures that they will not be considered as a least developed country going forward – this creates uncharted territory for Bangladesh. It will be really interesting to see how Bangladesh government and businesses respond to this new situation when Bangladesh is not considered as a least developed country.”
The upcoming episodes of the webinar will include more experts from various industries such as eCommerce, Education, Healthcare among others. The episodes will be telecast live from the Facebook pages of eGeneration, Shameem Ahsan and RTV.
-rmc//