Abstract:
Back ground: - Healthcare systems heavily rely on medical equipment for the prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of patients.
Objective: - This study aimed to assess the utilization of medical equipment and identify barriers in Comprehensive Specialized Hospitals (CSHs) within the Amhara Region.
Method: - An institution based cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted from May 29, 2023, to June 18, 2023, the research utilized both quantitative and qualitative methods. All CSHs in the region were purposively included in this study. The availability and functionality assessment was conducted against 78 medical equipment listed by MoH which are supposed to be available in CSHs. Qualitative data collection was done using highly-structured questionnaires, observer checklists, and key informant interviews for the qualitative data collection.
Result: - The study found that, average availability of medical equipment at least one in each hospital was 55.93%. Out of 78 medical equipment, only 25.64% were available in all hospitals, with 74.68% being functional. The most common reason for non-functionality (50.87%) was the lack of spare parts and accessories. Six of the Hospitals Biomedical engineers didn’t obtain refresher training regularly. Only 1 out of 8 hospital avail spare parts and accessory before medical equipment stopped working, 6 of the hospitals didn’t perform preventive maintenance as recommended, in 7 of the hospitals the medical equipment storage space was not enough and only one of the hospital’s used medical equipment policies effectively. Challenges identified through qualitative analysis included issues with Medical Equipment Management Information System (MEMIS) utilization, lack of spare parts, absence of well- equipped and standardized maintenance workshop, limited management support, insufficient operator training, and maintenance capacity constraints.
Conclusion: - Our study revealed critical deficiencies in medical equipment availability and functionality and barriers of utilization in CSHs.
Recommendation: - Addressing the identified non availability, non-functionality and challenges through collaborative efforts and targeted interventions is essential for optimizing the availability and functionality of medical equipment in Amhara Region CSHs, ultimately improving healthcare delivery.
