Role of DDS Pharmacist

The District Drug Store (DDS) pharmacist is responsible for managing the supply chain of all drugs and commodities at the district level under the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP).

The DDS Pharmacist is involved in the following activities:

Figure: Role of District Drug Store (DDS) Pharmacist in National Tuberculosis Elimination Programme (NTEP)

1. Receipt of drugs: The DDS will receive drugs from the State Drug Store (SDS) as per the requirement. The pharmacist of the DDS will receive these drugs and maintain records relevant to this activity.  

2. Issues/ dispatches: The pharmacist of the DDS will issue and dispatch drugs under the following circumstances:

• Routine quarterly supplies to Peripheral Health Institutes (PHIs)

• Routine supplies to District Drug-resistant TB Centres (DDR-TBCs)

• Supplies to PHIs against Additional Drug Requests (ADR)

• Routine supply of Cartridge-based Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (CBNAAT) cartridges and Truenat chips to the PHI stores

• Routine supplies to the private health facilities mapped with the district stores

3. Prepare stock statements: The DDS pharmacist will prepare a Monthly Stock Statement (MSS) providing details of receipts, issues, and opening/ closing balance of drug items, on the last day of each calendar month.

4. Data entry and record maintenance: The pharmacist of the DDS will maintain relevant records in the Bin Cards (BC) and record all the transactions in Ni-kshay Aushadhi. Stock Registers (SR) may also be used, if real-time transaction are not recorded in system.

5. Visits to TUs and PHIs: The pharmacist of the DDS is also required to visit the TUs and PHIs discuss the issues, challenges and provide resolution, training support to the sub-level.

6. Monitoring: The DDS pharmacist will closely monitor the performance of the linked TUs and PHIs by periodically checking the records (both physical registers and online entries on Ni-kshay Aushadhi). The DDS pharmacist is also required to perform physical stock verification of the TUs and PHIs and cross-check the same with the stock status in the stock register and other relevant records.

7. Analysis of reports: The DDS pharmacist will analyse the reports submitted by the linked TU to identify under/overstocked TUs, and the TUs with near-expiry drugs. The analysis of the reports will also help the pharmacist in forecasting the future requirement of these TUs.

Resources

• Standard Operating Procedure Manual Procurement & Supply Chain Management, Central TB Division, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India. 

Assessment