CAMERWA, Rwanda's central medical stores, has halved the time needed to dispense pharmaceuticals following assistance from the Supply Chain Management System (SCMS) team based in Kigali. Said one district manager on collecting pharmaceuticals, "arriving at 11:40am and leaving at 3:40pm, [this was] two times less than what occurred the year before. Bravo and Bon courage!"
Facing inefficiencies in inventory systems and limited warehouse storage challenges, the SCMS team provided technical assistance and procurement advice to improve warehousing.
The SCMS team in Kigali provided:
- capacity building in warehouse management to staff at all levels
- a study tour in South Africa to improve knowledge and skills on warehousing and distribution
- new warehouse infrastructure that led to 64% increase in stock storage capacity and improved layout and product mapping
Through improved inventory control and accuracy of monthly stock reporting CAMERWA is able to alert partners to potential stock-outs before they occur. It has also reduced the drugs into warehouse receipt process from fifteen to five days.
Soon, the SCMS team in Rwanda will install a computerized warehouse management system. This will include bar coding and hand held technology and enable CAMERWA to control stock movement, inventory and warehouse operations even more efficiently.
Crown Agents is one of the 16 member organizations of the Partnership for Supply Chain Management which is implementing the SCMS project. Since SCMS was established in 2005 the project has delivered HIV/AIDS commodities and has strengthened supply chains in more than 20 countries.