6618.HK: JD Health’s Next Steps after IPO and COVID-19

by Vivian Yang

'The pandemic has changed many factors of the medical sector, pushed online medical consultation service to a new height, and ushered in a revolution in the medical industry,' commented Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Health at a press conference in Beijing following the company's listing on Hong Kong Stock Exchangeon Dec. 8, 2020.

Xin noted that at the beginning of the COVID-19, people did not have much choice but to go online for medical help. But over time, they realized the convenience and high-quality services and medical resources they can access through online platforms, and choose to stay with them even as the virus situation is now under control in China.

Lijun Xin, CEO of JD Health at the press conference

According to Xin, at present, daily online consultations remain at 100,000 on average on JD Health, making it the largest online medical consultation platform in China. In the meantime, JD Health's online pharmacy platform offers over 150,000 types of pharmaceutical products to its customers, providing the most comprehensive range of medical supplies that people can possibly get on the Chinese market. And these medicine orders can be delivered at people's doorsteps within as fast as 30 minutes.

Supportive government policies, increasing cooperation with pharmaceutical enterprises, and active participation of individual doctors over the COIVD-19 period all fostered the rapid development of telemedicine, Xin said.

JD Health's full-time docotors at work

Xin noted that JD Health will continue to focus on building up its supply chain capabilities to make healthcare services available whenever and wherever customers need them, and on increasing the accessibility of medical resources to let more people from very grassroots levels enjoy high-quality medical support.

'As long as we do our utmost to provide truly helpful healthcare services to our customers, revenue will come naturally,' said Xin.

With the money raised during this IPO, Xin said the team will continue to invest in pharmaceutical supply chain development and high potential enterprises that can supplement JD Health's industry ecosystem, build greater healthcare platform that integrates more hospital resources and O2O services, and also prepare capital in case of another pandemic situation in the future.

In the next five years, Xin hopes telemedicine will serve as the largest patient triage platform in China, helping to guide more and more mild and chronic diseases to be taken care through telemedicine, and severe diseases and emergencies to be treated in offline hospitals. The whole process of diagnosis and treatment will be tracked online for closed-loop health management.

The press conference was attended by over 50 reporters either in-person in Beijing or virtually online from Hong Kong right after the ceremony to sound the gong, a traditional and standard Chinese way adapted by HKEX for celebration of new listing event. Register and watch the replay of the press conference here.

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