Leading pharmaceutical retailer HealthPlus recently announced plans to enhance operational efficiency, improve service delivery and grow the business in order to meet the expectations of its stakeholders and sustain its leadership position in the industry. Customers have expressed their pleasure that the company’s pharmacies are now sufficiently stocked with medicines, nutritional supplements and home medical equipment to meet their daily needs.
Speaking to newsmen at the recent the opening ceremony of a new outlet in Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue, Lagos, the customers commended the management and staff of the business and urged them to sustain the current momentum in the business.
Alhaji Saidu Mohammed, an investment banker who has been a loyal customer for 16 years, commended the business noting that “from what I have seen in some stores in Lagos and my hometown Kano, I can say without mincing words that HealthPlus is now back as the undisputed leader in the industry.”
“All the drugs I need to manage the health condition of my aged mother who has diabetes, hypertension and heart disease are available in my nearest store. Some months ago, I couldn’t get everything in one store and had to visit different outlets in other to get my mother’s monthly supply. This is a good development and HealthPlus should keep it up.”
Dr. Ndutimi Michael, a medical practitioner in Port Harcourt who, apart from being a customer, also refers his patients to HealthPlus to get their medication, was also excited that his patients no longer complain of medicines being out of stock at HealthPlus outlets. In a related development, the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has clarified its position on the investment by Alta Semper in 2018 into HealthPlus, pointing out that the investment was done legally and in line with Nigerian laws and regulations.
The Council cautioned against mischievous interpretation of its letters, in a veiled reference to erstwhile Chief Executive Officer of HealthPlus, Mrs Bukky George, who had issued a statement to stakeholders on March 3rd 2021, falsely saying that PCN had declared the investment by Alta Semper Capital as non-compliant with Nigerian law. In a letter to Olaniwun Ajayi, the legal counsel to HealthPlus Limited, dated March 23, 2021 and signed by its Registrar, the PCN noted that its letter to Mrs. George withdrawing the waiver granted to HealthPlus to secure foreign investment did not affect the legality of the investment, and the original waiver letter was not needed to confer sanctity on the original transformative investment into the Company.
PCN urged for the dispute between the two parties to be settled through the correct dispute resolution channels, and that the PCN does not have the mandate to impose any solution in the matter. Alta Semper Capital, one of the leading impact investment firms in the UK, had invested $10 million in 2018 to boost the HealthPlus’ ambitious expansion programme. Alta Semper has subsequently invested further capital into HealthPlus as part of its growth and repositioning, a well as part of an expansion programme into locations, particularly with a focus on cities with less secure access to prescription medications. Alta Semper has invested in excess of US$150 million into leading healthcare companies in Nigeria, Egypt and Morocco, with the view to provide access to sophisticated and high quality medical and pharmaceutical goods and services on the continent.