A STUDY ON THE INVENTORY MANAGEMENT OF RAPID ANTIGEN KITS TO ENSURE CONTINUOUS SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT AT THE POINT OF COVID-19 SERVICE WITH EFFICIENT COST CONTROL AT TSMSIDC, DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, MEDICAL AND FAMILY WELFARE, GOVERNMENT OF TELANGANA

One of the responsibilities of TSMSIDC, Govt. of Telangana is procuring drugs, diagnostics, reagents, and consumables, and supply them to various health facilities across the state. During the COVID-19 period, TSMSIDC has taken up the onus of procuring testing kits and COVID-19-specific medicines as well. The objective of the paper is to present the different inventory management and supply chain management strategies (deployed) by TSMSIDC to optimize the expenditure incurred towards purchasing of Rapid Antigen Testing Kits (RAT). This is also intended to present how TSMSIDC was able to save over Rs. 58 Crores during this period adopting different strategies to save the cost, while maintaining the quality and standards of the kits purchased.