Barriers Of Upstream Supply Chain In Healthcare Sector In India, Essay.

Factors affecting upstream supply chain management in healthcare in India

Question:

Discuss about the An Investigation of Barriers to Healthcare Upstream Supply Chain in India.

Conclusion:

The dissertation investigated the barriers of health care upstream supply chain in India. It has been observed that the health care providers in India have been largely affected by the supply chain management issues. The health care sector in India has faced several issues in terms of its quality of services which has resulted in the inappropriate use of resources in enhancing the health care supply chain management practices. Additionally, in the recent times, the hospitals in India have faced severe pressure in terms of finding methods for reducing the costs while maintaining and ensuring the quality of services provided. The researcher has identified and analyzed the several factors and challenges that affect supply chain management in India.

The researcher also emphasized upon the problems related to supply chain management from the perspectives of the hospital and the doctors. The research also aimed at identifying the best suitable methods of mitigating the problems related to the supply chain management in the health care sector in India. The researcher has used both primary and secondary data collection methods in order to derive the appropriate results. The researcher conducted a questionnaire survey wherein a questionnaire comprising of ten questions were sent to 50 hospital personnel in India. The researcher has also used interview method in order to obtain more accurate and reliable information.

To determine which factors affecting the upstream SCM of healthcare in India

The researcher identified the major factors that affect the upstream supply chain management of health care in India as relationship with suppliers, specifications and standards, after procurement service and compatibility. The researcher found that majority of the respondents believed that the major factor that influenced up streaming supply chain management of healthcare in India is the specification and standard. Several respondents also believed that the major factor was the relationship with the suppliers. Therefore, it can be stated that two major factors that influence up streaming supply chain management of healthcare in India are specification and standard and relationship with the suppliers.

The researcher also analyzed the importance of timely delivery as one of the major factors that affect up streaming supply chain management of healthcare in India. The results showed that a majority of the respondents strongly agreed to the fact that timely delivery is one of the major factors that affect up streaming supply chain management of healthcare in India. The researcher also analyzed the importance of safety in supplying materials from one place to another and the results have proven that a majority of the respondents believe that safety is an important aspect in supplying materials from one place to another. Therefore, it can be stated that time delivery and safety are the most important factors that affect the up streaming supply chain management of healthcare in India.

Issues related to healthcare SCM in a hospital

The researcher has attempted to identify the issues that relate to healthcare SCM in a hospital to doctors’ and hospital perspective. From the hospital’s perspective, the researcher has observed that most of the respondents have strongly agreed to the fact that misplacement of medical equipments is the major issue that relates to healthcare SCM in a hospital to doctors’ and hospital perspective. This indicates that misplacement of medical equipments increases the procedure of medical function by creating complications in effective offering of services to the people in need of it. The researcher has also identified poor documentation as an issue that delays the supply chain process.

On the other hand, from the perspectives of the doctors, the researcher has identified four major key issues namely misplacement of medical equipments, delays in the delivery of medical products, inferior quality of products and lack of appropriate sustainability certification. A majority of the doctors, who were surveyed, believed that misplacement of medical equipments was the major issue related to health care supply chain upstream for a hospital. The researcher has also identified that several doctors face issues with the quality of the products, cancel of shipments and re- order by the end of the suppliers. The researcher found that corrupt practices in India have been the major reason behind these issues. Lack of proper maintenance of vehicle have also been a a major issue that has negatively affected the quality of medicines. Therefore, it can be stated that improper maintenance of vehicles result in delays in the delivery of the medicines that affects the quality of the products.    

The researcher has determined the several challenges that affect the supply chain in health care providers in India and has identified four basic challenges. These challenges involve lack of awareness regarding the supply chain management, deficiency of top management support in the supply chain management, poorly integrated Information system and lack of coordinated effort, strategic alliance formation, and knowledge sharing. A majority of the respondents believed deficiency of top management support in the supply chain management as the major challenge that affects the supply chain in health care providers in India.

The researcher also identified inconsistency and inaccuracy in the product information as the major challenge that affects the supply chain in health care providers in India. The researcher found that several organizations have been using consolidates warehouse process in order to combine small shipments into larger shipment loads. The researcher also identified inability to meet changing demand pattern, limited communication among parties and incompetent cold chain management during transportation as the major challenges that have huge impact on the health care providers in India. A majority of the respondents have considered inability to meet changing demand pattern as the major challenge that impact health care providers in India. Therefore, it can be stated that inability to meet changing demand pattern and deficiency of top management support in the supply chain management are the major challenges identified in the health care sector in India.

Challenges affecting the supply chain in healthcare providers in India

The major key strategies identified and surveyed by the researcher for mitigating the challenges faced by the health care sector were encouraging top management commitment, enhancing logistic synchronization, improving communication at every stage and staff training. The majority of respondents believed that encouraging the top management commitment was the best strategy to mitigate the challenges identified in health care. The researcher identified that the top management of the hospitals must manage to fulfil their objectives in less time so as to mitigate the challenges faced by the health care sector in India. This is possible only when the top management of the organizations are encouraged to operate the business process and obtain favourable results.

The researcher has also determined that communication acts as a vital tool in making everyone aware of the present situation of supply chain management. A majority of the respondents strongly agreed to the fact that communication plays a vital role in making everyone aware of the current situation of supply chain management. This is because communication plays a vital role in making the staff members aware about their roles and responsibilities in the organization. The researcher has also identified that logistics synchronization can be enhanced by ensuring proper communication and incorporating technological advancements in the supply chain management.    

Based upon the data analysis and the conclusion, the researcher has suggested that the health care sector in India must emphasize upon time delivery and safety as they are the factors that affect the up streaming supply chain management of healthcare in India. It is also recommended to ensure specification and standard and relationship with the suppliers in order to upstream the supply chain management of healthcare in India.  Proper maintenance of vehicles are necessary in order to avoid delays in the delivery of the medicines and to ensure the proper quality of the products. Misplacement of medical equipments has been identified as the major issue related to health care supply chain upstream for a hospital and must be avoided.

The top management support in the supply chain management must be ensured as it has been identified as a major challenge that affects the supply chain in health care providers in India. Therefore, the top management of the organizations must be encouraged to operate the business process in order to obtain favourable results. Proper communication among parties and competent cold chain management during transportation must be ensured in order to avoid the challenges faced by the health care sector in India. Consistency and accuracy in the product information must be ensured in order to improve the efficiency of the supply chain management in the health care sector in India. Inability to meet changing demand pattern has also been observed to be a huge challenge in the health care sector in India and must be solved using appropriate logistics synchronization. The top management of the hospitals must manage to fulfil their objectives in less time so as to mitigate the challenges faced by the health care sector in India. Proper communication must also be ensured within the organizations so that all the staff members fulfil their duties and responsibilities as per the requirements.     

Strategies for mitigating challenges faced by the health care sector in India

The major limitation of the research is that it was based upon questionnaire survey, which included direct answers from the respondents. The questionnaire were distributed via email as a large number of respondents were involved, which created issues while collecting the primary data. Time was a major constraint in this research as the researcher had to cover several aspects related to the health care sector in India within a short interval of time. The researcher required more time duration for conducting in depth analysis for obtaining proper results that would benefit the health care sector in India.

Future scope of the study plays a vital role wherein the the uncovered parts of the research are explored as further research is required to improve those sections. The researcher has provided several opportunities for conducting further research on the research topic for exploring the the uncovered areas. The research does not provide information regarding the technologies that might be used in order to improve the efficiency of the supply chain management in the health care sector in India. Therefore, the future research shall require more time and effort to explore the uncovered areas.

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