Introduction:

The study of the efficiency of the wholesale distribution of medicines must take into account not only the compliance with the classic economic indicators but also to what extent the supply level of the different assortments for each unit is being guaranteed.

Objectives:

To evaluate the efficiency from an integral perspective, of the wholesale distribution of medicines and other pharmaceutical products, in Cuba in 2016.

Methods:

A descriptive, longitudinal and quarterly research was developed for the year 2016. The profitability, productivity and technical efficiency of scale of the 16 drugstores in the country were evaluated. For what was propoused the resolve of the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), wich was based on the use of the free software OSDEA.

Results:

Sales and distribution cycles were met, but coverage by product was not achieved. The human resources and the expenses for basic resources for the transportation behaved in the margin of what was planned, but the expenses of the operations increased. All the drugstores worked at the level of efficiency planned in terms of financial indicators, however 10% of the units were inefficient based on the technical efficiency of scale.

Conclusions:

The wholesale distribution of medicines was carried out in 2016 with high levels of efficiency. The comprehensive analysis allowed identifying inefficient drugstores so this continues to be a topic to be developed. Inefficient drugstores should review both the level of results and that of resources consumed to achieve efficiency levels similar to those of their reference peers.

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