Assessment of laboratory commodity supply chain practice at public health facilities of Jimma zone and Jimma town administration, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

Back ground- Laboratory services play a significant role in a country’s health system and in the delivery of quality health services. However managing supply chains in support of laboratory services is a formidable challenge. When diseases are diagnosed incorrectly, valuable medicines are wasted treating a disease for which they are not effective. The status of overall laboratory commodity supply chain practice in our country as well as in Jimma zone was not clearly known. Objective- to assess the overall supply chain practice of laboratory commodity in selected public health facilities of Jimma zone and town, south west Ethiopia from March to April 2016. Materials & Methods- A facility based cross-sectional descriptive study method was conducted. The study units have stratified in to three strata i.e. hospitals, `A` level, and `B` level health centers. The study & sample population were 122 & 34 facilities, respectively. Structured questionnaire and in-depth interview were used to collect the data. ANOVA, chi-square, linear regression and correlation analysis were conducted. SPSS version 20 was used for data analysis. Results- almost 40% of the health facilities were found stock out on the day of visit (the overall mean days of stock out and months of stock on hand were 51 and 5.51, respectively), 19 of them had filled & send RRF, facilities maintaining acceptable storage practice were 26.5%, only 9 facilities were doing demand forecast, and only 2 of them used ABC analysis for selection of products. It was found that HCs had an average stock out days that is significantly greater than hospitals (p-value =0.003). Conclusion- the supply chain practice towards laboratory commodity was found very poor. Availability, selection and quantification practice, quality of data, and storage practice were found significantly compromised. Mean stock out day were found different between facilities. Number of pharmacy professionals and annual budget were significantly affected availability. Recommendation- laboratory professionals should have to participate in the procurement, inventory recording tools including RRF have to be intensively implemented, systematic selection and quantification should be followed, and storage guide line should also be strictly followed by all facilities.