C’garh introduces GPS based tracking system for smooth delivery of medicines

Raipur: State-owned Chhattisgarh Medical Services Corporation Limited (CGMSCL) has deployed GPS based tracking systems to strengthen the supply chain and ensure smooth delivery of medicines to the government health facilities.

CGMSCL supplies life saving drugs and essential consumables to over 1300 health facilities including Primary Health Centres (PHC), Community Health Centre (CHC), District Hospitals (DH) and medical college hospitals from its 16 warehouses strategically located to cover all the 33 districts in the state.

“A total of 44 vehicles used for medicine delivery across the state have now been GPS enabled and can be monitored online”, an official press release issued here on Thursday said.

CGMSCL has mandated the installation of GPS enabled devices on all its vehicles that are used for delivering medicines and medical consumables.

The GPS data coupled with the DPDMIS (Drug Procurement and Distribution Management Information System) application enables one to track and monitor any shipment from warehouse to facilities and thus determine its exact location and estimate approximate time of delivery, the statement said.

It provides details of shipment and also enables management to take corrective actions in case of unnecessary delays, breakdowns, route deviations etc.

In Chhattisgarh, there are many health facilities which are located in remote hilly or forested areas and to supply medicines to them CGMSCL vehicles have to traverse harsh and difficult terrain where mobile network is very poor or absent.

Earlier, it was difficult to estimate delivery times to such facilities as communication with drivers was hampered due to poor mobile network coverage.

However, with the new GPS based system, the location of the delivery vehicles can be continuously tracked even when it is moving through such areas where either mobile network is absent or its connectivity is poor and thus enabling warehouse managers and facility in-charges to estimate time of delivery easily, the statement said.