A Review Study on Pharmaceutical Inventory Management & Store Keeping Practices of Pharmacy in Rural Hospitals

Background: In pharmacy operations, inventory is referred to as the stock of pharmaceutical products retained to meet future demand. Inventory represents the largest asset in pharmacy practice, and its value continues to rise because of the growth in variety and cost pharmaceutical products. From both financial and operational perspectives, efficient inventory management plays a great role in pharmacy practice. Ensuring medicines availability is an important goal for health system as medicines are an important building block in the health system. Essential medicines are defined by the WHO as those medicines which respond to the most pertinent health needs of a population. These medicines are the foundation for most public health programmes that are aimed at reducing morbidity and mortality. WHO states that essential medicines should be available at all times. The consequences of medicine unavailability are widespread and can have detrimental effects on individual and public. Unplanned treatment interruptions could lead to an increase in resistance for example to antimicrobials and antivirals which can have the ripple effect of switching to more costly treatment and interventions. Patients may have to travel to alternative facilities including the private sector facilities to source medicines. This may be costly and becomes a barrier to accessing medicines. Therefore to ensure uninterrupted availability of medicines, inventory management system of medicines has been upgraded from paper based to computer and web-based system.