Sehat is Humanizing E-commerce in Pakistan

Sehat has been the leading online healthcare portal in Pakistan since its inception in 2014. Since it launched its website, it has been credited with changing lives in Pakistan.

Many Pakistanis, from those living in far-flung areas to those living in urban settings, have given the website thumbs up in providing a convenient service that delivers life-saving medicines through a website and call center to over 300 locations in Pakistan.

What’s even more fascinating is that the service has shipped to over 150 cities in Pakistan – talk about making an impact.

One of the issues, however, that Sehat has been able to address is the very simple conundrum of how e-commerce claims it can capture a market of around 100 million smartphone users, despite the fact that digital literacy doesn’t seem to be improving in this country.

Instead, what many seem to witness is the reluctance of many e-commerce sites to actually perform their due Corporate Social Responsibility and harness a population that is still very much rural, yet has the determination to make a difference in this country.

What e-commerce can provide is so much more than just a sale through a website – it can be the chance to educate those about the power of the internet, to aim to be a major contributor to the economy at large, and to truly change a person’s life.

That’s where Sehat decided to make strides by visiting an area of Pakistan often ignored, that has recently started strike people’s fancies as a tourist destination with breathtaking mountains, and with one of the highest literacy rates in the country: Chitral.

Chitral has recently been known to be synonymous with the annual polo festival that is held between Chitral and Gilgit, the Shandur Polo Tournament. However, Director of Marketing for Sehat, Bilal Mumtaz, had some other motive behind visiting the region.

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I had previously visited the region in 2011 to hold a football camp for the students of the Langlands School & College and the Army Public School in Chitral. The experience was fascinating – I got to mentor adolescents and young adults with immense potential, who also seemed to have a great passion for the sport.

What these people needed though was a boost of confidence, through support given by individuals from other parts of the country.

The Chitral Scouts was willing to lend us their ground for the camp, and we even were honored with having the DCO of Chitral as a Chief Guest for the final day of the camp, alongside Mr Geoffrey Langlands – ex schoolteacher at Aitchison and then principal of the Langlands School and College – inaugurate the camp.

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It was through that pleasant experience that Sehat decided to hold a football match in the region, this time through their own arrangements, taking place in Late July, 2017. A football match was held between the Imran Khan Foundation and the Langlands School and College at the Chitral Polo Ground in the center of the city.

The match ended in a 2-1 victory for the Imran Khan foundation. After the game, Sehat presented trophies to the runners-up and the winners of the football match. A Sports Kit was even presented to the District Football Association of Chitral, without whom the match could not have been possible.

No other institutions were lending a hand, but Sehat managed to witness and celebrate, once again, the immense potential and passion of the Chitral through the promotion of sport and good well-being.

Such affinity to the region still continues to this day. Through a special arrangement, Sehat has partnered with the Aga Khan Foundation to spread awareness of proper female hygiene practices.

Healthcare At Your Doorstep has always been Sehat’s slogan, but in this effort, Sehat made strides to do something different for a change: where people always stumble upon e-commerce in their daily lives, Sehat, for once, made sure e-commerce arrived directly to the customer in a physical, humanistic form.

And that has made all the difference in what keeps Sehat a service to be trusted.