Inventory Management Practices and Operational Performance of Government Hospitals in Kenya

Abstract

Government hospitals are key to our economy based on their role in provision of cheap and affordable quality healthcare services to a large part of the Kenyan population especially to the middle class and low class citizens who cannot afford health care in the private hospitals. The study purpose was to establish the extent of implementation of inventory management practices in government hospitals, to establish the effect of IMP on operational performance in government hospitals in Kenya. It was specifically aimed to establish how, VMI, JIT, EOQ and ABC analysis affect operational performance of government hospitals in Kenya. Descriptive research design was used in its methodology. The study was guided by transactional cost analysis and theory of economic order quantity. Data collection was effected by use of structured questionnaires which were distributed through drop and pick method in all the government hospitals in Kenya. Chief supply chain managers, assistants or the equivalent were the targeted population from the 46 government hospitals in Kenya. Analysis of data was by use of descriptive and regression analysis. VMI, ABC, EOQ and JIT were the dependent variables while operational performance was the independent variable. The study findings indicated that the inventory management practices had been implemented in government hospitals to a moderate extent. The results on the second objective indicated that adoption of IMP affects operational performance positively in government hospitals in Kenya. Also 60% of operational performance in public hospitals was affected by implementation of inventory management practices. The major limitation of the study is that it was based on government hospitals in Kenya and not all other hospitals. Other future academicians should research on inventory management practices in other firms rather than government hospitals in Kenya. Key words: inventory management practices, operational performance and government hospitals.