Pharmacy billing software for medical shops in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh

A medical shop in Madurai, Salem, Guntur or Kurnool lives on three numbers: what was sold today, what is on the shelf and when it expires, and what is owed to the stockists. Most shops already have a billing program. The reasons owners look for a new one are usually the same: stock that does not match the shelf, expired strips found at the back of a drawer, a drug inspector asking for a register that has to be written up by hand, and no link to the prescriptions coming from the clinic next door.

This article is for pharmacy owners in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, standalone medical shops and pharmacies inside a clinic or hospital, comparing pharmacy billing software.

1. The counter

The counter is judged at seven in the evening with six people waiting. Check:

• Search that shows what is on the shelf first, by brand, composition or form, and does not offer a medicine that is out of stock as if it were there.
• The batch named on the bill is the batch the strip came from, earliest expiry first.
• Bills kept open as tabs, so a customer who goes to find a prescription does not hold up the next one.
• Cash, UPI and card on one bill, with the cash rounded to the rupee and the change worked out.
• Substitution recorded on the bill, saying which brand was given for which, without changing the doctor’s prescription.

2. The bill

A pharmacy bill is a legal document. It should carry the shop’s GSTIN and its drug licence numbers (Form 20 and Form 21), the batch and expiry of each line, HSN codes and the tax split on a tax invoice, and the patient’s and prescriber’s names where a prescription was dispensed. A shop under the GST composition scheme issues a bill of supply instead, with no tax collected. Ask whether the bill prints on A5 and on an 80mm thermal roll, since most counters use one or the other.

3. Stock: batches, expiry and the shelf

Stock that does not match the shelf is the most common complaint. Look for:

• Stock held by batch and expiry, not as one number per medicine.
• Low stock judged by the medicine, across all its batches, against a reorder level the shop sets.
• Expiring stock listed in time to return it to the stockist.
• Write-offs and stock adjustments approved by the owner, with who, when and why recorded. A count changed at the counter without a record is how stock goes missing.

4. Stockists, purchase orders and goods received

In Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh most medicines come through stockists holding wholesale licences (Form 20B and 21B), not from the manufacturers. The software should keep each stockist’s GSTIN, licences, bank details and credit days, and:

• raise purchase orders with reorder suggestions, sent as a PDF or an image on WhatsApp;
• receive the invoice into stock with each line’s batch, expiry, quantity, free quantity, rate, discount and GST;
• read a photo or PDF of the invoice to fill in the receipt, for the person receiving to check;
• show what is owed to each stockist and when it falls due.

Purchases recorded this way can then be matched to GSTR-2B each month, so input tax credit is claimed only on invoices the stockist has reported. See GSTR-2B reconciliation for pharmacies.

5. Registers the inspector asks for

The Drugs Control Department in Tamil Nadu and the Drugs Control Administration in Andhra Pradesh inspect retail pharmacies. The Schedule H1 register (prescriber, patient, drug and quantity for each supply, kept for three years) and the prescription register should come out of the bills for any period, as PDF and spreadsheet, rather than being written up by hand the night before an inspection. A recall should be traceable from the batch to the stockist’s invoice and to every bill it was sold on. See purchase orders and GRNs.

6. Prescriptions from the clinic

For a pharmacy inside a clinic or hospital, the biggest saving is not typing the prescription again. The doctor’s prescription should arrive at the counter in a queue, open as a bill with the medicines filled in, and credit each line as it is dispensed, so the clinic can see what was dispensed and what the patient bought elsewhere. A pharmacy whose bills are collected at the clinic’s reception should see them marked settled there.

7. The day close and the owner’s view

At closing, the counted cash, UPI and card should be set against what the bills say, with expenses paid from the drawer entered against the day. The owner should see sales by medicine, collections by payment mode, purchases and a check for stock that left the shelf without a bill, without opening a spreadsheet.

Questions to ask in a pharmacy software demo

1. Search a medicine by composition and show which batch the bill takes.
2. Bill one medicine across cash and UPI, and print the bill on A5 and on a thermal roll.
3. Photograph a stockist’s invoice and show the goods received note it fills in.
4. Change a stock count from the counter login and show who has to approve it.
5. Print last month’s Schedule H1 register.
6. Trace one batch from the stockist’s invoice to every bill it was sold on.
7. Close the day against the drawer.

Where 92health fits

92health runs a pharmacy counter on the same record as the clinic that prescribes:

• prescriptions from the clinic in a queue, opening as the bill with the medicines filled in, and substitutes recorded on the bill;
• bills in tabs, search that shows the shelf first, cash, UPI and card on one bill, rounding to the rupee, and bills printed on A5 or an 80mm roll with the GSTIN and drug licence numbers, or as a bill of supply for a composition dealer;
• stock by batch and expiry, low stock by medicine, expiring stock flagged, and write-offs and adjustments approved by a manager;
• stockists with their licences, GSTIN and credit days, purchase orders shared as a PDF or image, goods received with CGST, SGST and discounts, filled in from the invoice, and what is owed by due date;
• the Schedule H1 register and the prescription register as PDF and CSV for any period, the day sheet and the day close;
• purchases matched to GSTR-2B, and every bill posted to the books.

It runs in the browser for a medical shop in Chennai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Trichy, Salem, Tirunelveli, Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Guntur, Nellore, Tirupati or Kurnool alike. To see it on your own counter, book a pharmacy demo.