SRINAGAR: The Health and Medical Education (H&ME) department has ordered the constitution of a Hospital Equipment Management Committee (HEMC) for equipment audit and preventive maintenance at Community Health Centres (CHCs) and District Hospitals (DHs) in Jammu and Kashmir.
These committees are tasked with receiving proposals for procurement and induction of new equipment from the respective departments and evaluating them “along with the justification provided after need analysis and cost-benefit analysis.”
The HEMCs will also oversee the receipt, installation, and commissioning of new equipment at the hospital, as well as training the user staff in operating and maintaining the equipment. Furthermore, the committees, as per H&ME, will ensure the preparation of an Equipment Master Maintenance Plan consisting of scheduled preventive maintenance and calibration of the equipment.
The committee comprises the Facility In-charge, the senior most consultant, the Dy MS or Medical Officer, the stores or senior most MO, the head pharmacist or in-charge storekeeper, and the Head, Sup/Sr Lab Technician and Head/Sup/Sr Radiographer/Head/Sup/Sr Pharmacist/Lab-technician/Radiographer (Paramedical staff) as per availability at the CHC and DH.
Other guidelines include monitoring the weeding out of old and obsolete equipment declared beyond economic repairs and recommending proposals for condemnation to the MD NHM, recording achievements of the Key deliverables approved for the BMMP at the facility, forwarding a copy to the MD NHM office for collation and inclusion in the annual PIPs, and undertaking analysis of records pertaining to equipment breakdown and preventive maintenance logs.
The committee is also tasked with assessing the usage and performance of equipment and suggesting measures to optimally utilize equipment for quality health services—(KNO).
