A Study of the Supply Chain Management System in Ridge Hospital, Accra

Abstract

Supply chain Management has assumed an important role in a firm’s performance and has attracted serious research attention over the last few years. Companies especially those in the healthcare sector are challenged with finding ways to meet changing demand pattern of customers, to reduce operating cost and to maintain consistencies in data in order to deliver effective healthcare services. This has necessitated a study into the existing Supply Chain Management (SCM) system in the Ridge Hospital, Accra mainly because of the ongoing upgrade of the hospital into a regional hospital. The aim of this research was examine the existing Supply Chain Management System in the Hospital. In order to achieve the aim, the study sought to identify the existing supply chain management procedures and methods adopted by the Hospital, outline the challenges of the existing SCM system in the hospital and suggest measures of addressing these challenges. In the light of this, the scope of the study was focused on the Ridge Hospital, Accra only. The main research instrument used for the study was interviews. Using a convenience approach and purposive sampling technique, the target respondents were supplies managers, procurement officers, general stores and pharmacy stores officers. Using Microsoft excel, the data collected from the interviews were grouped together and were analyzed. The study revealed after the analysis that, the stages in the Hospital’s SCM procedures were Procurement Planning, Sourcing, Contracting, Inspection, Storing, Distribution and Evaluation. The study further revealed that the hospital encountered challenges in its operations such as lack of finance, inadequate qualified personnel, poorly integrated information system, and non-adherence to some statutory provisions of the Public Procurement Act, Act 663. It was therefore recommended that the Hospital should adopt ICT, develop an annual training plan to build capacity of its SCM officials, employ a qualified SCM officers to coordinate rather than using national service personnel for most of their operations. Additionally, the new Regional Hospital under construction should take into consideration all the existing challenges of the Hospital such as space, drainage and proper warehouse system in order to solve these challenges.

Keywords: Supply chain Management, Turnover Performance, Logistics Management, Inventory Information Management

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