What Does Medical Supply Mean To Public Health System?

By Eugenia Dickerson


Most of the items used in the provision of health services are usually not durable. The majority of them gets disposed after use and cannot be shared between patients. In fact, a single patient may not use some of them repetitively. This is the description of materials in category of medical supply. Most of them are prescribed or ordered by the physicians for their own use or for betterment of the health of the patient.

Their use is also limited to single users as there is no sharing and individuals may not use them in a repetitive manner. Others consider those products that can affect the health status of a patient either positively or negatively.

For this reason therefore, proper consideration must always be given in procurement and handling these essential utilities. They play a primary role in the health of both the patients and the health providers. The support staff in health facilities is too must be protected from defective equipment.

While the hospitals and other health providers might put in place all the necessary steps to ensure that their environment and treatment procedures are completely secure, the efforts are sometimes in vain particularly if the utilizes supplied to them are defective or are below the required standards. The storage procedures must also be effective as most of these materials are highly sensitive to environmental conditions such light, moisture, temperature and even pressure.

Health acquired conditions is a category of any form of ailment, injury or infection acquired by a patient under health facility care. In other words, a patient who comes to seek treatment for something unrelated acquires a new condition in the process of treatment. Falling and breaking a bone or two in the medical facility is an example. Other common infections and conditions that are easily acquired in this manner includes urinary tract infections associated with catheter, blood infections associated with central line, ventilator related pneumonia and even pressure ulcers among many others.

The other victims when it comes to poor quality or defective equipment are the health workers. This category consist of the health professionals like nurses and doctors and support staff like cleaners and others. There are reports where doctors sustain injuries when handling this equipment. The situation can even be worse when they get infected with life threatening ailments as a result of defective equipment. For protective measures, gloves, masks and other protective cloths are normally used.

The protective devices that are mostly employed include disinfectants, gloves, protective coats and sometimes masks. The technology has however improved the situation as it is now possible to examine the effectiveness of most of these utilities before they are brought to the actual use. Most utilities and other equipment can always be monitored in terms of performance and the corrective measures taken before the situation deteriorates.

It however still remains the sole responsibility of the manufacturers and suppliers of the medical supply equipment, medicines and other related chemicals to ensure that such items are best of quality. The regulatory bodies on the other hand must tighten laws and regulations and double their effort to ensure the health sector remains risk free.




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