ComfortDelGro cabbies to deliver medicine in new tie-up

COMFORTDELGRO Taxi has tied up with ALPS Pte Ltd, the supply chain arm of Singapore's public healthcare system, to allow its cabbies to deliver essential medicines.

The medicines will be delivered to patients with pre-existing conditions in need of regular refills during the Covid-19 period, ComfortDelGro Corporation announced on Tuesday.

The service is available to all public healthcare institutions (PHIs). These PHIs can set up individual accounts with ComfortDelivery, the month-old delivery service launched by ComfortDelGro Taxi for delivery jobs during the Covid-19 period.

Delivery fees are charged to the PHIs by the distance, with a starting fee of S$6.50 for up to the first three kilometres. All fees will go to the cabbies and will be credited to their individual UOB bank accounts by ComfortDelGro Taxi the next working day.

ComfortDelGro Taxi chief executive Ang Wei Neng said the tie-up will help increase the medicine delivery capacity of PHIs, allowing more patients to receive medication delivered to their doorsteps.

The move will also allow the company to provide its cabbies with more delivery job options during the post-"circuit-breaker" period.

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Cabbies will ensure that all medication is transported according to temperature requirements and will be taught to keep parcels away from direct sunlight, heat and moisture. They will also need to verify the recipient's identity before signing off on behalf of the recipient to minimise contact.

Since ComfortDelivery's launch in end-April, around 2,000 taxi drivers have been successfully onboarded to participate in delivery services for more than 800 food partners, and another 400 cabbies have been redeployed to alternative jobs.

ComfortDelGro shares were trading S$0.06 or 4.2 per cent higher at S$1.49 as at 10.46am on Tuesday.

Read more: Burpple merchants join ComfortDelGro's food delivery platform