Role of SDS Pharmacist

The State Drug Store (SDS) pharmacist will perform the following activities:

1. Receipt of drugs: The state drug store may receive drugs from Government Medical Stores Depots (GMSDs) and Central Medical Store Services (CMSS) as a part of central supply, from drug stores of other states as a part of inter-state drug transfer and from district drug stores or other SDSs as a part of intra-state transfers. The pharmacist of the SDS will receive these drugs and maintain records relevant to this activity in Ni-kshay Aushadhi. 

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

• Routine quarterly supplies to District Tuberculosis Centers (DTCs)

• Routine supplies to Nodal Drug-Resistant TB Centers (NDR-TBCs)

• Routine supply of cartridges and chips to the Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAAT) labs

• Supplies to DTCs against Additional Drug Requests (ADR)

• Transfers to other SDS(s) in the same state

• Transfers to SDS(s) in other states

3. Prepare stock statements: The SDS 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 SDS 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 transactions are not recorded in the system.

5. Visits to DDS: The pharmacist of the SDS is also required to visit the DDSs, TB Units (TUs), and Peripheral Health Institutes (PHIs) and discuss the issues, and challenges and provide resolution and training support to the sub-level.

6. Monitoring: The SDS pharmacist will closely monitor the performance of the linked DDS, TUs and PHIs by periodically checking the records (both physical registers and online entries on N-ikshay Aushadhi). The SDS pharmacist is also required to perform physical stock verification of the DDS, 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 SDS pharmacist will analyse the reports submitted by the DDSs to identify under/overstocked DDSs, and the DDSs with near-expiry drugs. The analysis of the reports will also help the pharmacist in forecasting the future requirement of these DDSs, TUs and PHIs.

Resources

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

Assessment