Drug Inventory Management in a Pharmacy Store of a Tertiary Care Hospital Using Always Better Control (ABC) and Vital, Essential, and Desirable (VED) Analysis

Background: Efficient drug inventory management ensures the uninterrupted availability of critical medicines while optimizing limited financial resources. Always Better Control (ABC) and Vital, Essential, and Desirable (VED) analyses are validated tools for identifying high-cost and high-priority items requiring strict oversight. Objective: This study aimed to analyze annual drug procurement expenditure using ABC, VED, and ABC-VED matrix methods in a tertiary care hospital from April 2018 to March 2019 and to identify priority medicines requiring enhanced managerial oversight to optimize inventory control and resource utilization. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated all drugs purchased over one year. Drugs were categorized using ABC, VED, and ABC-VED matrix analyses (Categories I-III) to identify priority groups for managerial control. Category I comprised AV, AE, AD, BV, and CV items; Category II included BE, BD, and CE items; and Category III consisted solely of CD items. Results: Overall, 1,402 drugs were procured during the study period, with an annual expenditure of ₹85,305,041.13. ABC analysis classified 135 items (9.62%) as Category A, 250 (17.83%) as Category B, and 1,017 (72.54%) as Category C, accounting for ₹59,813,194.80 (70.11%), ₹17,201,737.31 (20.16%), and ₹8,290,109.02 (9.72%) of total expenditure, respectively. VED analysis identified 373 items (26.60%) as vital, 613 (43.72%) as essential, and 416 (29.67%) as desirable, contributing ₹31,567,217.65 (37.00%), ₹39,230,038.25 (46.00%), and ₹14,507,785.23 (17.00%) of annual costs, respectively. Regarding the ABC-VED matrix, 458 items (32.66%) were classified as Category I, 624 (44.51%) as Category II, and 320 (22.82%) as Category III, accounting for ₹66,958,985.88 (78.49%), ₹15,745,645.07 (18.46%), and ₹2,600,410.18 (3.05%) of total expenditure, respectively. Conclusion: The ABC-VED matrix is a robust tool for identifying drugs requiring close monitoring and targeted cost-containment strategies while ensuring the continuous availability of vital and essential medicines in resource-limited settings.