Good intentions, bad outcomes: The dangers of donated medical devices

Donated medical equipment arrives almost as a surprise at Pakistan’s Abbas Institute of Medical Science, said biomedical engineer Zeeshan Ali, who is tasked with maintaining the devices at the facility.

Often the machines are refurbished and spare parts can be difficult to come by. “The most challenging is maintenance of the equipment [with a] limited budget,” Ali wrote to Devex.

It is not uncommon, he said, for the equipment to be declared unusable within five years.

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