Inventory control techniques in medical stores of a tertiary care neuropsychiatry hospital in Delhi

Approximately 35.0% of annual hospitals budget is spent on buying materials and supplies, including medicines. We can bring about substantial improvement in the hospital inventory and expenditures by the inventory control techniques. Objective: To identify the categories of drugs which need stringent management control. Material and Method: The ABC and VED analysis of the medical store of a Neuropsychiatry hospital at Delhi, India was conducted for the year 20082009 to identify the categories of items needing stringent management control. Results: The total number of the drugs at the medical store was 145 drugs. The total annual drug expenditure (ADE) on these drug items was Rs. 19219594.79. ABC analysis revealed 3.45%, 6.9% and 89.65% items as A, B and C category items, respectively, accounting for 70.5%, 19.68% and 9.83% of ADE of the medical store. VED analysis showed 32.41%, 61.38% and 6.2% items as V, E, and D category items, respectively, accounting for 70.9%, 28.72% and 0.38% of ADE of the medical store. On ABC-VED matrix analysis, 33.8%, 60% and 6.2% items were found to be Category I, II and III items, respectively, accounting for 92.33%, 7.29% and 0.38% of ADE of the medical store. Conclusion: It is suggested by the study that the management of Category I drugs should be done by the top management resulting in stringent control on the annual expenses. The Category II should be managed by the middle management level and Category III at lower managerial level.