35 per cent medical devices in State unsafe or dysfunctional, reveals study

A report by the Centre for Calibration and Testing of Medical Equipment of the National Hub for Healthcare Instrumentation Development in Anna University said more than 12,000 medical devices from around 250 hospitals were not calibrated properly. Calibration refers to a comparative check of the work performance of a medical device against the standard levels.

Various medical devices, including ventilators, ECG machines, defibrillators, dialysis machines and electrocardiograms, were found lacking medical device safety, as their functioning was not monitored. A large number of devices in several hospitals were marked to be checked for device safety without calibration, as the machines were either not full working order or had few lapses.

As per the regulations, hospitals are supposed to certify that the machines are calibrated only after the testing. However, the survey found that hospitals lacked records of the testing process andother details.

Responding to the report, the government doctors’ associations said that such lapses should be checked because it can put the life of patients at risk due to less efficient machines.

“Medical devices such as ventilators and dialysis machines are life-saving equipment. If they are not calibrated on a regular basis, the efficiency cannot be determined. Hospitals should ensure that such incidents do not happen and government should check these processes,” said Dr GR Ravindranath, secretary, Doctors Association for Social Equality.