Improving supply chain performance in the South African healthcare service : a literature based perspective

Abstract: Supply chain performance management plays an imperative role in keeping healthcare organizations sustainable and competitive by handling the storage and efficient distribution of resources in the value chain. Managing the complexity of healthcare demands and the application of improved technologies requires best practice supply chain models. The South African healthcare industry experiences unsatisfactory capacity limitations where there are extreme deficiencies of beds, equipment, facilities and trained healthcare professionals. This study highlights supply chain management strategies that can enhance efficient healthcare accessibility and delivery in South Africa using literature data. The results show that advanced healthcare delivery approaches such as ambulance divert and predictive analytics stand a good chance of improving supply chain management in the country