Unveiling supply chain efficiency: exploring ABC-VED analysis studies on drug inventory management in India

About one-third of annual hospital budget is spent on buying materials and supplies including medicines. In any health facility, be it small health center or a big teaching institution, drugs forms an essential and indispensable element. Non-availability of drugs particularly in the developing countries is due to lack of proper material management. A poor management in a public pharmaceutical supply can result in wastage or blockade of financial resources, irrational utilization of drugs, shortage or overage of essential drugs, increased holding cost, and reduction in flexibility and decline in quality of health care services. Adaptation of a scientific approach of inventory management in healthcare manages all the issues regarding stocking of pharmaceutical items, ensuring safety, stability, efficacy, availability and maintenance of quality of drugs to provide better healthcare services. This review will focus on inventory management and its importance with special emphasis on always better control-vital, essential, desirable (ABC-VED) analysis technique on essential medicine concept and report of various research studies conducted on ABC-VED analysis in different parts of country.