Karnataka Drug Logistics & Warehousing Society (KDLWS) has commissioned its 11 warehouses in 14 districts of the state. The warehouses have come up at cost of Rs 15 crore under the European Commission grant for Logistic and Warehousing Project of the Reform and Reorganisation Drugs Management System of Centre's Health and Family Welfare Services Department. The allocated funds by the European Commission was utilised for both infrastructure and purchase of equipment.

The funds for the drug warehouse construction have been sanctioned for the first time in Karnataka health and family welfare services department. "These drug storage facilities would give a major fillip unlike what existed in the past," Jitendra Nayak, additional director, government medical stores and karnataka drug logistics & warehousing society told Pharmabiz.com

Each of the 14 districts at Gulbarga, Bijapur, Shimoga, Mangalore, Mysore, Belgaum, Bellary, Raichur, Dharwad, Davangere, Kolar, Tumkur, Hassan and Bangalore are linked to one of the 14 district medical stores. With the full-fledged operations of the warehousing, all the hospitals in the districts can obtain drugs from the designated district medical stores.

The storage area of the warehouses is between 3,500 and 5,000 sq. ft. in each of the 14 districts. The facility has been also completely computerised. This will allow ready access to information on the status of drugs procurement and distribution system. In addition, warehouses are fully equipped with cold storage, cold chain carrier, storage racks and hydraulic lift.

Under the funding programme, the state health and family welfare department had also been instructed by the Central Government to include the training of human resource, engage consultants, advocate importance of rational drug use. This apart, a portion of the finances are also set aside for purchase of vehicles to ensure speedy transportation drugs to the government medical stores.

The engineering wing of the Karnataka Health Systems Development Project (KHSDP) was in charge of the construction and the civil works.