Coimbatore Corporation will soon initiate a process to monitor on a daily basis the disbursement of drugs at its urban health centres. According to City Health Officer P. Aruna, the Corporation would install software in the computers available with the medical officers in the health centres. As and when the medical officers prescribed drugs, the same would get deducted from the stock the centres have.
The changes in the stock position would get reflected in the server that would be available at the Corporation’s main office in Town Hall.
This, Dr. Aruna said, would enable the Corporation’s health officials to know the stock position, reinforce the supply and also advice the medical officers on how to manage the stock.
Citing an example she said that if a medical officer were to prescribe only a particular variety of antibiotic and exhaust the same before moving on to the next variety, the Corporation could ask him to prescribe all the varieties available so that the less-prescribed drugs did not expire.
The second advantage in the new system was that the Corporation would be immediately able to know of disease outbreak or a problem in an area based on the drug dispensed.
This would quicken the reaction time for the civic body to prevent any outbreak.
The next gain the Corporation would have by using the software was that it would be in a position to arrest pilferage of drugs, if any. The Corporation, she said, planned to install the software at the earliest and also train the medical officers and pharmacists.
