The Habib Pharmacies - Book Report/Review Example

The Habib Pharmacy The Habib pharmacy is a Middle East pharmaceutical company, a subsidiary of the Habib Medical Group based in Saudi Arabia. According to the head of the pharmacy Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqi, the company began its operations with the aim of availing pharmacy services to both inpatient and outpatient programs. These pharmaceutical services include the provision of prescribed and non-prescribed medications, as well as pharmaceutical advice to the patients concerning a wide range of health care information. Process design and objective Habib’s process design was tailored with the main objective of unifying the medical part of the company with the business part. The medical-related issues encompass matters pertaining to the medical services that they provide, and the interactions of the company with the other key players in the medical field. On the other hand, the business part of the firm entails the retailing of the medical services and products to consumers depending on the need and demand, while trying to maintain the inventories. By unifying the medical-related issues with the business issues of the firm, Habib pharmacy aims at improving the quality of services that they avail to the patients while ensuring that they maintain the highest possible return on investment. For smooth flow of operations, the company has subdivided its workflow design elements. Since the company deals with availing medical services and products to various clients across, the firm has a defined logistic department concerned with the delivery of the products at the right price, right quantity and in the best quality at the earliest convenience. By performing their tasks appropriately, the logistic department ensures that the company remains competitive and continues to generate highest profit margins possible. Another critical element of the process design is the technical department. The department is tasked with overseeing that the patients acquire the best services commensurate with what they pay for and what they demand. The supply element of the process design is deemed as the most profitable added value part of the company. There is also a procurement team element of the design process that is concerned with taking care of all transactions of the company. They negotiate with the vendors both locally and abroad while coordinating with the retail section. To streamline the execution of this design process, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqi affirms that the firm has appropriate facilities such as warehouse for proper storage of products, which minimize losses. In addition, the company has also adhered and conformed to the relevant local authority rules and regulations such as licensing. The company also ensures that in their critical design elements, the concerned personnel observe the highest level of good communication skills to ensure satisfaction of all customer needs. With such an objective and elaborate design process, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqi ascertains that each of the department plays a key role towards enhancing the overall experience of the customer. In particular, the retails and technical departments ensure that customers as soon as possible without compromising the quality standards. The setup of the technical department ensures that the company personnel are within very close proximity to the clients in case any need arises. In addition, retail stores are designed for the customer’s convenience, in which products are well displayed and arranged. The departments are also adequately staffed to reduce work pile up or customer delay. Quality of service and products Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv highly rates Habib Pharmacy services and products affirming that the company’s products and services are strictly approved and verified by official authorities such as the Saudi Arabia Ministry of Health. The products specification compliance body of Saudi Arabia has also endorsed the products and services that Habib pharmacy provides. In terms of dispensing of the medical products over the retail counters, the firm has put in place electronic prescription systems for verification of medications for proper prescription. In general the company has standard information systems to help that pharmacist properly store data, which also helps in the inventory management. Furthermore, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv articulates that the firm has various levels of certification at various service delivery points at the hospital. Despite a lack of clear survey report regarding consumer satisfaction with the firm’s products, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv is of the opinion that they provide high quality services. This can be indicated by the significantly high number of customers. Despite the company’s admittance that it is a challenge to consistently maintain and regulate the quality parameters of service ad products across the board; the company has put in place several mechanisms. For example, the company has adopted the standardized international quality standards. This is commonly applied at the joint procurement center of the firm. Moreover, Habib Pharmacy has established a centralized pharmaceutical care and quality department that ensures that all branches apply the set quality standards. This measure eliminates any quality-related issue that may jeopardize the firm’s operations. This parameter also ensures that the customers are assured of getting the same quality at all the branches. Every department has a smaller quality assurance team that ensures consistent service delivery. Non-governmental organizations, agencies and other government bodies acting as consumer watchdogs and stakeholders in the industry also ensure that the company’s activities are streamlined. The head of the Pharmacy reassures that in being a delicate industry that is concerned with the provision of health care. Poor quality endangers an individual’s life; therefore, quality management is important. Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv points out that managing the quality is vital towards avoiding conflicts with the key stakeholders in the industry. Consumers of healthcare services and products are protected by the various agencies and need reassurance that their needs are satisfied with the highest quality possible. He admits that the firm understands that failure to manage quality may mean the extinction of Habib Pharmacy as a whole. Forecasting and inventory management The head of the company also admits that forecasting is a crucial business tool in its operations. It is particularly in procurement processes. As a matter of fact, the company’s electronic-based procurement system is programmed based on statistical forecasting data such as moving averages. This plays an important role in estimating the firm’s procurement needs for a certain product over a certain period of time. The company derives the forecast from historical data of the moving average of their products. According to the Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv, the company’s forecast is based on a two months period into the future, which is also applied in procurement. The head of Habib pharmacy also confirms that currently, the demand for their products is rather unsteady. He positions the company to be at the exponential stage of the business growth cycle. This implies that the company’s demand is steadily rising having been in existence in the industry for nearly 19 years. In addition, the availability of adequate and standard storage facilities determines the inventory. Furthermore, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv elaborates that the details of the inventory are based on the steps such as receiving of products, packing, and dispatch that are involved in the procurement process. In terms of making supply orders and receiving of the supplies, the firm’s head posits that acquiring medical supplies and products is a global challenge. This, therefore, makes it considerably difficult to acquire the ordered materials. For example, he explains that products such as blood medical products and vaccinations have a high demand coupled with low production. As such, such products may be difficult to obtain when needed. Employees and employment process On average, the firm has a minimum of twenty five pharmacists, whereas the inpatient department and the procurement department have fifteen employees each. The logistics department, which is the largest department, has the largest employee population averaging around sixty workers. The head of the firm further points that employment is mainly based on the current labor regulations. Most of the employees at the firm have pharmaceutical background holding pharmacy or medical –related degrees. Nevertheless, the company faces challenges to attract such employees considering the rather low numbers of qualified personnel and the government expansion of health care facilities that attract the few available qualified personnel. In case of any vacancy, the company uses a variety of electronic means including social media. They also utilize newspapers as well as taking part in career days and seminars in learning institutions. Upon successful application for a job vacancy, interviews are conducted on a one-on-one basis in form of an oral interview. Key factors during an interview entail determining a person’s knowledge, as well as the individual’s willingness and compassion in the pharmaceutical industry. The interview questions are tailored to know the knowledge level of a person and understanding of the pharmaceutical norms. Working facilities To ensure efficient service delivery, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv admits that the facilities at the company equipped with standard equipment such as electronic dispensing machines. As the head of the firm, he understands the important of pharmacy automation to avoid errors and further improve workers efficiency. The firm strives to stay in touch with current technologies and subsequently modernize the equipment with emerging technologies. The modernization of the equipment and facilities adheres to the international standards, and emulates the renowned American standards. Averagely, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv estimates the costs of establishing a standard average pharmaceutical facility at half a million Riyals. In his view, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv mentions that some of the ways of designing operations to make employees work efficiently include electronic modules for entry and dispensing of prescriptions. This allows shortening the queuing time. For the inpatient facilities, efficiency can be improved by installing satellite locations for a prompt response. Product sustainability Being an industry that is constantly innovating, Dr. Riyadh Al Atiqiv acknowledges that it is difficult to determine the length of time that a particular product will remain in the market. A product can remain in the market for a certain a duration until a new product that has a better effect is invented. He also points out that advertisement and customers’ demand can also influence the demand for certain product brand. When determining the order in which jobs are processed, certain factors are put into consideration; this includes the urgency of the orders particularly for inpatients. Outpatient orders are processed on the first-come-first-served basis, with exceptions given to the disabled or patients with special needs. References Read More