What is Inventory

Unprecedented outbreaks of disease have challenged the contemporary world with substantial adverse consequences on the effectiveness of business models in operations and supply chain management (OSCM). The advent of COVID-19 put a lot of pressure on staff and resources. However, the focus of contributors has been on the pressure on staff managing the various hospital facilities and ignoring inventory, which is one of the key areas where resources required to take care of patients are managed. Using the resource dependency theory, this chapter analyses how COVID-19 affected the inventory practices of hospitals operating in the Western Region of Ghana. It further makes suggestions on how the inventory of hospitals should be managed in order to avert possible shortages and interruptions in healthcare delivery and further relieve hospital staff of the pressure they have to sustain when there is a shortage. The chapter offers suggestions on areas of inventory management practices that management of hospital facilities should pay attention to.