Contact Us

Opening hours: Monday to Friday: 8:00am to 5:00pm, Saturday: 8:30am to 12:30pm

Choosing Pharmaceutical Products for Clinics and Hospitals

Choosing Pharmaceutical Products for Clinics and Hospitals

To ensure your patients receive proper medical care, you must stock up your healthcare facility with the right type of pharmaceutical products in sufficient quantities.

However, this process can be complicated and incur high costs when not carried out systematically. Here are the factors you should consider when choosing products for your clinic or hospital.

1. Legal requirements

Legal requirements

To obtain drug supplies from manufacturers and wholesalers for your facility, you first need to have an Annual Practicing Certificate (APC) as stated in the Poisons Act 1952. You will also need to renew your APC annually.

2. Choosing the Right Pharmaceutical Products Supplier

Choosing the Right Pharmaceutical Products Supplier

Did you know that the cost of pharmaceutical products is the second-highest after staff costs in any given country’s healthcare system?

Besides that, the public has voiced their disapproval regarding private facilities known to overcharge for products. This has led to the public purchasing directly from pharmacies and companies sourcing from pharmacies to reduce staff medical benefit costs.

Therefore, researching and finding a supplier committed to providing reasonably-priced and high-quality products is critical. This way, you will be able to offer affordable services to your patients. Make sure to consider the supplier’s prices, shipping policy, dependability, return policy, drug quality and reputation.

3. Types and Quantities of Pharmaceutical Products

Types and Quantities of Pharmaceutical Products

The next question is: what products should you procure, and in what quantities? Equipping your facility with the right products and amount to meet your patients’ needs and avoid wastage is crucial.

Firstly, your facility should have sufficient quantities of essential drugs (basic medicines that meet the population’s healthcare needs) at all times. These products are listed on Malaysia’s National Essential Medicine List (NEML).

The NEML currently consists of 359 medicines. Ideally, a hospital should have 150-200 medication on hand, while smaller facilities need around 40-50 medications.

You will also need to carry out quantification to estimate the demand for specific products during a certain period. To quantify accurately, you will need information from the essential medicines list, consumption data, epidemiological data, prescription patterns, stock levels, stock-out frequencies, and length of procurement cycles.

4. Storing Pharmaceutical Products

Storing Pharmaceutical Products

Before purchasing pharmaceutical products, you need to ensure your facility has the right storage conditions for every product.

Besides, you will have to maintain proper segregation, temperature, lighting, humidity, sanitation, and ventilation levels. Additionally, you must keep dangerous drugs and psychotropic substances under lock and key with an alarm system.

These measures are vital to avoid contamination, disfiguration of labels, theft and loss, and pest infestation and maintain the product quality or potency.

Lastly, you should monitor and take note of each product’s expiry date regularly. Moreover, implementing a FEFO (First To Expire First Out) policy can help avoid wastage.

If you’re looking to procure pharmaceutical products for your facility, Mayflax can help you. Mayflax is a one-stop pharmaceutical wholesaler that provides over 2,000 quality pharmaceutical products to healthcare professionals at low prices. Find out more about them here.