Whatever the size of your healthcare unit, medical equipment is an integral part of any medical facility. Medical equipment is required for diagnosis, monitoring, treatment, surgery, and also post-care. A top-notch health centre needs to have innovative and highly precise medical equipment and hence a ton of effort has to be taken for the planning, procurement, and maintenance of hospital equipment.

Three things to remember

1. Do not go over budget

Medical equipment can be expensive…hence as a first-time investor, you should be careful that you do not go overboard while purchasing it. It may be tempting to get the most advanced super-speciality machinery…however it is important to know if your health centre really needs it as different types of medical facilities will require instruments of  different types, different specifications, and different degrees of specialization.

It is essential that you conduct a need analysis and a techno-financial feasibility analysis before you make any investment decisions to procure medical equipment. You should consider your core speciality, your expected footfall, the degree of precision requisite of a particular instrument suited to your field etc. before making this important choice. Be extremely cautious in this aspect because every little incremental cost can delay your breakeven point, decrease the viability or profitability of your project, and also increase the cost of healthcare that you can provide to your patients in the long run.

2. Remember to plan your space

Medical equipment can be massive and bulky. Before you invest in this, ensure that you have planned for the installation of such space-consuming machinery in your hospital design and lay-out. Knowing the type, make, size,  and specifications of your hospital equipment is necessary before the architectural masterplan or blueprint is designed. Specialized machinery may require reinforced flooring and strengthened walls to prevent sound and vibrations from causing disturbance. So, be sure to discuss this with your team of design consultants so that they can make provision at the very onset. Medical equipment will also require electrical connection, light fixtures, and water supply. Remember, to incorporate these prerequisites at the layout and construction planning stage of your hospital project. Everything, from floor spaces to wall thickness, to ceiling heights, to material should be adjusted as per the specialized equipment requirements.

3. Choose the right vendor

A multitude of vendors and manufacturers may offer the same type of equipment. You may get confused by the various offers and discounts and schemes that each of them is willing to provide. But remember, when it comes to the health and the lives of your patients, there should be no compromise of quality. You need to sieve through the various offers to see which suits your healthcare institution the best in terms of finance, discount, maintenance contract, guarantee, warranty, and repair expertise.

Choose medical equipment suppliers who can provide outstanding service and who have a panel of experts who can maintain and repair the medical equipment without causing any workflow interruptions. They should be willing to offer you an assortment of services right from installation to quality check to maintenance to bill and record keeping to guidance about mandatory safety regulations for a particular piece of machinery.

To summarize, medical equipment planning is quintessential to the success of any healthcare business because medical machinery consumes more than 25 percent of the cost of the project and also directly impacts the patient experience and the reputation of your healthcare facility. Medical equipment planning and procurement can be a tricky business. If you are a first-time healthcare entrepreneur, you can easily encounter several pitfalls in this rough terrain. If this is your situation, it is best to avail the services of hospital equipment planning consultants who are a group of specialists who have the experience and the expertise to guide you through this tough landscape. They will be able to advice you on your healthcare equipment decisions perfectly suitable to your budget, size of enterprise, estimated footfall, expected growth and nature of specialization. They will also guide you to ensure that your equipment procurement goals are in strict compliance with the regulatory guidelines.

If you are looking for help in equipment planning, contact Hospertz. We have more than 2 decades of experience in this field and can cater to your every medical equipment need, whatever the size, type, and speciality of your healthcare unit.

Blog has been written by Dr. Vishal Jadhav, a veteran in the field of hospital consultancy with a rich experience of more than 20 years and founder of the Healthcare Consultancy Firm, Hospertz.

Dr. Vishal Jadhav, Director
hospertz@gmail.com
+91 9867712705/ 9820833149