By 2009, the company was planning to set up 200 company-owned stores in Gujarat at an investment of Rs 25 crore, said Apu Gupta, chief operating officer (north India) of MedPlus Health Services.
The company will also set up an integrated health centre (IHC). "Unlike our competitors, we are looking at catering to the most local customers and will try to be present in almost every neighbourhood to provide better accessibility to quality branded medicines and health services. Moreover, we will be operating at a lower price point compared with others," said Gupta.
The company will set up IHCs and pharmacy stores in a ratio of 1:10 under a hub-and-spoke model in Gujarat.
Typically, while a MedPlus pharmacy store is spread across an area of 300-400 sq ft, an IHC can be as big as 1,500-2,000 sq ft. Currently, MedPlus Health Services runs around 400 pharmacy stores across five states including Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, catering to over 25,000 customers daily. After establishing 500 outlets, the company planned to go for franchise-based model for 75 per cent of its stores, said Gupta.
The Rs 100 crore company has set a target of setting up 1,000 pharmacy outlets by March 2009, alongwith 100 IHCs. The company employs nearly 2,000 people and expects to have a pan-India presence by year end.