Stock & Inventory Management

February 2026 · 7 min

Pharmacy stock management in Bio-Ecko covers the full lifecycle of every medication unit -- from goods receipt at the central store to dispensing at the patient counter. The system tracks batch numbers, expiry dates, and storage locations in real time, ensuring you always know exactly what is available, where it is, and when it expires. Automated alerts prevent stock-outs and reduce wastage from expired medications.

Multi-Location Inventory

Hospitals often have multiple dispensing points: main pharmacy, ward sub-stores, OT stores, emergency drug cabinets, and satellite pharmacies. Bio-Ecko maintains separate stock ledgers for each location while providing a unified dashboard view. Each location has its own min/max/reorder levels.

Inter-location transfers follow a request-approve-dispatch-receive workflow. The sending location creates a transfer voucher, the receiving location confirms receipt, and both ledgers update atomically. This prevents stock discrepancies between locations.

Batch & Expiry Tracking

Every stock entry is tagged with batch number, manufacturing date, expiry date, and supplier details. The system enforces FEFO (First Expiry, First Out) dispensing -- when a pharmacist scans or selects a drug, the earliest-expiring batch is suggested first.

Expiry alerts run daily and flag medications expiring within 30, 60, and 90 days. Near-expiry stock can be earmarked for transfer to high-consumption locations or marked for return to the distributor. The write-off workflow captures expired stock removal with supervisor approval and generates the accounting entries automatically.

Automated Reorder & Indenting

When stock at any location drops below the configured reorder level, the system auto-generates an indent (internal requisition). For central store replenishment, indents convert to purchase orders routed through the procurement approval workflow.

For ward sub-stores, the indent goes to the central pharmacy for internal issue. Pharmacists can review pending indents on a prioritised dashboard, batch-approve routine requests, and escalate urgent ones. Emergency indent mode bypasses standard approval for critical medications.

Stock Adjustments & Physical Counts

Periodic physical verification is essential for inventory accuracy. Bio-Ecko supports full physical counts and cycle counts. During a count, the pharmacist enters actual quantities per batch; the system calculates variances against book stock and generates an adjustment report.

Adjustments require supervisor approval and automatically create journal entries in the General Ledger. Reasons are captured (damage, pilferage, measurement error) for trend analysis. The system also tracks stock adjustments from returns, breakages, and sample distributions.

Analytics & ABC/VED Classification

The inventory analytics module classifies drugs using ABC analysis (by cost), VED analysis (by criticality), and combined ABC-VED matrices. This helps management focus procurement efforts on high-value, vital medications while simplifying processes for low-value, non-essential items.

Dashboards show: current stock value by location, consumption trends (daily/weekly/monthly), dead stock reports (no movement in 90+ days), stock turnover ratios, and wastage percentages. These metrics directly inform P&T committee discussions and budget planning.

Notes

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