Influence of inventory management practices on the availability of emergency obstetric drugs in Rwanda's public hospitals: southern province of Rwanda

Abstract

Stockouts of some life-saving drugs, such as emergency obstetric drugs, are evident in many health facilities and have been the leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity for women in the developing world. In many cases, this situation is associated with poor inventory management practices. This study aims to provide adequate information to public health facilities in Rwanda that can be used to improve emergency obstetric care through proper pharmaceutical inventory management. A survey was carried out in ten district hospitals of Rwanda. Quantitative data generated from the questionnaires and checklist were validated and fed into STATA13. Bivariate and logistic regression analyses were appropriately used. The study revealed that keeping logistics management tools up to date is the backbone of inventory management practices in managing medicines and medical supplies. The results showed that hospitals with up-to-date logistics tools for their pharmaceutical management were 33.25 times more likely to have their emergency obstetric drugs in Stock than those that do not regularly update their logistics tools. The proper use of bin cards and electronic software (e-LMIS) contributed significantly to reducing the stockout rate of emergency obstetric drugs (88.9%). In addition, the use of simple techniques such as the Min-Max inventory control model (70%) and the Determination of quantities to order using past consumption pattern formulas has reduced the ratio of unusable to usable Stock by 79%. Over 18 months, oxytocin had the lowest average days (8) of stockouts at 1.5%. At the same time, magnesium sulfate injection experienced the highest Stock out, ranging between 16 days (2.96%) and 96 days (17.7%)and 367 days of overstocking at 67%, followed by Misoprostol. In health facilities, adequate supply chain staffing is essential to improving inventory management practices and medicine availability. Proper pharmaceutical inventory management practices within hospitals premises positively influence the availability of life-saving drugs, such as emergency obstetric drugs.