Healthguard expands its Pharmaceutical Distribution service to the Eastern province

• Aims to support local pharma manufacturers and importers with access to an island-wide retail network
• Now has 6 Regional distribution centers that provide Island-wide coverage of 3,000 pharmacies
• Ensures fully regulatory compliant storage and distribution of temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals

Colombo, September 11, 2022: Healthguard Distribution - the country’s only fully-fledged national pharmaceutical distribution service opened its sixth Regional Distribution Centre in Batticaloa recently. The launch comes at a time of macro-economic volatility that has destabilized the country’s pharmaceutical supply chains in the region, leaving a gap that is now bridged through this fully regulatory compliant Distribution Center. Further, the new center incites fresh economic activity in the region; bringing new employment opportunities and development to the East’s communities while also rebuilding and fortifying the healthcare supply chains that patients are reliant on. 

Healthguard already operates regional distribution centers in the Western, Central, Southern, Northwestern and Sabaragamuwa provinces all pharmacies and clines in these provinces. This latest expansion to the Eastern Province will increase its total direct pharmacy coverage and bring national regulatory compliance to this region in accordance with NMRA Good Distribution practices guidelines and beyond.

The new facility significantly increases the region’s logistics capacity and preparedness for safe and reliable pharmaceutical distribution. It enables Healthguard Distribution to support local manufacturers and importers to gain access to an island-wide network of pharmacies for their products and enable last-mile delivery even despite operational challenges brought about by the current fuel crisis.

Leveraging on the strength of its diversified parent company, Healthguard Distribution is the first Distribution-as-a-Service (DaaS) pharmaceutical model to be rolled out by a Sri Lankan healthcare company. It serves as a regulatory-compliant island-wide distributor for all health and wellness products.

Currently, most pharmaceutical and healthcare product importers and manufacturers handle their distribution through individual third-party distributors who may not be consistently reliable due to external challenges. In such a context Healthguard, with the backing of Sunshine Healthcare Lanka’s Island wide distribution network, set up Healthguard Distribution to cater to the needs of local pharma importers and manufacturers.

Commenting on the latest addition to the network, Sunshine Holdings PLC Group Managing Director Vish Govindasamy said, “Pharmaceutical distribution is at the heart of the Sri Lankan healthcare sector. We play a critical role in ensuring patient care by ensuring optimum availability of both prescriptions’ medicines and wellness products. The larger dedicated warehousing and distribution capacity of our new Eastern regional center, including temperature-controlled zones and cold chain management facilities, ensures that all temperature-sensitive products are delivered to regional pharmacies within the compliant conditions of good distribution practice.”

Healthguard Distribution’s centers contain a fully compliant distribution setup to meet the stringent requirements of relevant regulatory authorities and pharmaceutical manufacturers. The company is geared to ensure the uninterrupted distribution of pharmaceuticals even under adverse conditions such as the pandemic as the service is operated by teams of well-trained staff to deliver on the company’s promise of 24-hour service via a fleet of validated temperature-controlled distribution vehicles. They are equipped with generators to ensure 24/7 operating temperature-controlled spaces and mitigate the challenges caused by the prevailing power shortages.

Healthguard is a complete healthcare distribution company operating in Sri Lanka and is a fully owned subsidiary of Sunshine Holdings PLC. Leveraging on the strength of its parent company in the healthcare industry, Healthguard operates as a one-stop distributor of high-quality health and wellness products to all corners of the island. The company provides a service that would eliminate complexity and help pharmaceutical companies focus on their core competence, thus ensuring the prosperity of the industry. Healthguard remains firm in their commitment to supply high-quality pharmaceuticals to all citizens of our island nation, while also establishing ourselves as a one-stop solution for all local healthcare importers and manufacturers.