Pharmacy Technician

Background/IRC Summary:  The International Rescue Committee has been in Nigeria since October 2012 and came in response to a widespread flood disaster. IRC’s Emergency Response Team, with its local partner, Civil Society Coalition for Poverty Eradication (SCOPE), implemented projects to support food security, livelihoods, nutrition, and WASH in Kogi State. Beginning of January 2014, IRC shifted its geographical location to the Northeast, in Adamawa state to provide humanitarian response to the conflict-affected populations. In the Northeast, IRC has three operational offices: Yola and Mubi field offices in Adamawa state and Maiduguri field office in Borno state. The latter office opened in October 2015. In both states, IRC is providing humanitarian support to internally displaced populations hosted in IDP camps, camp-like settings, host communities, and returnee populations.

Job Overview/Summary: The Global Supply Chain Department supports the organization’s work by providing reliable and scalable application development and Operations for the IRC’s offices in the US and around the world, in the aspect of procurement, assets, inventory, and management of the IRC’s GSC policies

Under the direct supervision of the Health Manager and indirectly Supply chain officer, with technical referent to Senior Pharmacy Manager, the pharmacy technician will be based in Gwoza and will be responsible for:

• Overseeing, managing, and auditing medication inventory systems day-to-day pharma warehouse and facility distribution activities to ensure inventories are stocked to meet the needs of patient care while minimizing costs, outdated and to promote efficiency, manage high cost/low use inventory stocking processes to reduce cost and coordinate inventory across all sites of utilization.

Major Responsibilities:

POLICIES, PROCEDURES, AND COORDINATION 

• Understand, implement and/or maintain standard IRC inventory management policies and procedures
• Ensures that all pharmaceuticals purchased through Supply Chain must be received by Supply Chain in the warehouse in coordination with program staff before being delivered or collected by the requesting program
• Ensures that all pharmaceuticals stored in the IRC warehouse must be released by authorized IRC personnel
• Ensures that all cold chain items must be always kept under proper storage conditions and will therefore be prepared at the last minute just before dispatch
• Ensures that quarantined products must be stored in a separate locked area which can be subdivided into different zones for the different kinds of quarantined products (which must be labeled accordingly)

Key Task

• Maintain the adequacy of storage conditions
• Help with physical inventories
• Help in order preparations and packing to the different health structures (packing, transport…)
• Report discrepancies
• Monitor security of IRC’s storage and supplies
• Manage and document the receipt, handling, storage, release, and reporting of goods through the IRC warehouse(s).
• Advise supervisor of potential inventory shortage.
• Manage casual laborers in the warehouse.
• Ensure the maintenance of warehouse building(s), fittings, and equipment.
• Implement and ensure clear safety procedures.
• Implement and ensure clear loading/unloading procedures, and correct stocking and turnover (FIFO) procedures.
• Maintain the Warehouse activity book recording all outgoing and incoming receipts and activities.

Receipt and storage of goods

• Check the number of packages against the cargo manifest, check packaging and cases, and inform the Senior Pharma manager/SC Manager of any problems (missing or damaged goods, etc.).
• Ensure quality inspection is done by the requesting sector both physically and in the system before posting the product receipt.
• Give the cargo manifest, packing list / Waybill, and certificate of the items received to the Senior Pharma Manager, to centralize the filing of these documents.
• Update the stock record cards and Bin cards regularly.
• Ensure that all items are well organized and correctly stored, well protected, fully identified, and easily accessible (cleanliness, security, access, etc.).

Inventory management & Preparation of outgoing items.

• Carry out stock rotation by FIFO /FEFO to ensure no product expires on the stock or becomes obsolete.
• Verify the picking list presented by the program before packing for distribution to field sites 
• Ensure goods, and equipment are signed for received on the request form (office expendables) or waybill (all other items). 
• Ensure that the shipping areas (by destination) are clearly identified; store goods on shelves or palettes (as necessary), in a clean, tidy, and easily accessible manner.
• Pack (appropriately for the mode of transport chosen), weigh and label freight (destination, number of shipping units, waybill number, weight, and mode of transport), and assign a shipping number to each package, in accordance with the instructions of the Health Manager/Senior Pharma Manager or their delegation.
• Update the WH register, and bin cards immediately after the stock has been moved to their inventory locations

Stock Management and Administration

• Ensure that all necessary information is correctly and fully recorded on the stock cards: IRC code, batch number, expiry date, date of receipt or delivery, stock balance (incoming/outgoing), receipt, and delivery document reference numbers.
• Complete all the product receipt processes in Integra and posting required during reception of stock
• In conjunction with the senior Pharma Manager/Log Manager, perform physical stock counts in accordance with the frequency defined in the SOP
• Inform the Senior Pharma Manager when the stock of goods is nearing the minimum or maximum threshold, and regularly provide the Senior Pharma Manager and Health Coordinator with a list of the items with expiry dates within the next six months.
• Monitor the temperature of the warehouse and ensure that products requiring cold chain (vaccines) are always stored at a suitable temperature (between +2°C and +8°C) - manually record T twice daily - Report any deviation, using the cold chain breach report.
• Prepare the cold chain boxes as per the Cold chain SOP
• Ensure the availability of enough icepacks and clean cold-chain containers for the activities.
• Ensure cleaning, defrosting, and maintenance of fridges
• Medical waste management: Prepare the list of expired drugs and items and inform the Senior Pharma Manager/SCC and Health Coordinator. Ensure safe storage of expired drugs/items

Reporting

• Prepare a weekly/monthly report of movements of goods (incoming/outgoing) in the warehouse and submit a report to the Senior Pharmacy Manager, SC Manager, and Health Manager
• Immediately inform the Senior Pharma Manager of any problems arising in the course of the work, particularly regarding damage, loss, attempted break-ins, or theft in the warehouse.
• Conduct routine inventory inspection and submit a report to the Senior Pharma Manager/Logistics manager in a timely

Others

• Carry out various maintenance tasks
• Ensure that the warehouse is kept in good condition (cleaning).
• To check and control the pest infestation
• Keep and file all WH documents (reception, dispatch, complaints forms, maintenance activities and calibration of thermometers, WH register, cleaning records, etc.)

Key Working Relationships:

Position Reports to Health Manager
Position directly supervises: None

Indirect Reporting: SC Officer
technical referent:  Senior Pharmacy Manager