The purchase department helps in steady
supply of materials required in hospital for daily functioning. This requires a
good deal of planning and management, as any disruption in functioning of
purchase may cause disruption in supply of essential items, which can adversely
affect various functions of hospital including healthcare. Also, as purchase function
involves a large amount of money, an inefficient management can significantly
add to the cost burden of running a hospital. Following practices are
recommended for purchase, which if implemented appropriately can
tremendously boost its efficiency.
As most of the work in purchase in
a hospital is related to medicines and pharmaceuticals, it is highly recommended
that this checklist must be used along with the checklist of Pharmacy.
Purchase:
1.
A documented purchase policy should be available that
specifies who has the authority for taking purchase decision, according to the
amount of purchase
2.
Purchase of capital items (beyond a defined
cost) should always be done through a multi-disciplinary committee. The
committee must consist of representative from the user department (where the
purchased item is going to be used), representative from finance, management
and purchase department
3.
Record of committee meeting for purchase
decisions should be maintained in form of minutes of meeting.
4.
Purchase should always be planned. Any emergency
or unplanned purchase should be recorded and assessed to find out the root
causes
5.
For items of recurring nature, purchase should
be done through vendors who are empanelled/registered with the hospital. Purchase
done from other vendors should be considered as unplanned purchase
6.
A defined process with criteria should be in
place to register/empanel the vendor
7.
For capital item purchase, supplier should be
selected based upon pre-defined criteria. A multidisciplinary committee should
take part in selection of supplier.
8.
A written understanding should be made with each
registered vendor, which should specify the terms and conditions
9.
A vendor/supplier evaluation mechanism should be
in place to continue purchasing from good vendors and reducing poor vendors.
The evaluation criteria for vendors should be based on quality parameters.
10.
A vendor/supplier policy should be available
that specifies, requirements that vendors must fulfil and what actions to be
taken for vendor evaluation result
11.
Purchase procedure should be transparent and all
records should be maintained, including
a. Purchase decision (in case of capital items), in
form of committee meeting minutes and written purchase order from authority
b.
Purchase order
c.
Goods received note from stores
d.
Goods inspection report by stores
e.
Invoice and bills, reflecting appropriate taxes
f.
Copy of payment receipt
g.
Suppliers’ bids evaluation records (in case of
capital item purchase)
12.
Payment should be done only after receiving good
received note from stores
13.
Other than purchase records following records
should be maintained by purchase department
a.
Vendor empanelment/registration document
b.
Vendor evaluation form
c.
Minutes of purchase committee meeting
d.
Documents received along with goods from
supplier
e.
Documents pertaining to warranty, legal
clearances etc.
(Check this post on all legal documents required by a hospital)
(Check this post on all legal documents required by a hospital)
Quality
indicators
1.
% of local purchase made
2.
% of vendors with high score in vendor
evaluation
3.
% of delays in receiving stocks
4.
% of rejection in goods inspection report
5.
% of stock out due to delay in purchase function
