Biomedical Equipment Maintenance Management Program
The timely maintenance of biomedical equipments was one of the challenges faced by the public health system. Before the inception of KMSCL even though service parameters were mentioned in the tender conditions there were no proper mechanisms to ensure the proper implementation of the stipulated conditions. The details of repair and other service details were limited to the concerned user institutions and comprehensive data was not available in the head of the departments.
KMSCL has given paramount importance to after sales service of the equipment procured and included sufficient clauses in the tender document. The preventive maintenance visits were stipulated in the tender document depending up on the category of the equipments. A toll free number was provided in KMSCL head office for the user institutions to register the complaint calls. A sticker detailing the toll free number was provided along with the supply order to the suppliers. The suppliers affix the sticker in all the equipments at the time of installation and a photograph of the equipment with sticker was shared as part of the payment system to ensure the compliance. The calls reported in the toll free is escalated to the concerned supplier and ensured timely completion. The refund of performance security was also linked with the performance of the after sales support rendered during the warranty period.
The inventory of equipments supplied by KMSCL was available, however the inventory of equipments already available in the health system and procured locally were not available. Similarly the maintenance of equipments after the warranty period was also a concern. The maintenance of equipments out of warranty was decentralized and a subject matter of the concerned institutions.
In order to provide a comprehensive solution for the maintenance of equipments under the institutions of DHS, Government of Kerala had launched a programme called Biomedical Equipment Maintenance Management Program (BEMP) to ensure the complete maintenance and keeping the uptime of biomedical equipments available at the various Govt. hospitals (District Hospital, General Hospital, THQH, CHC & PHC) under Department of Health & Family Welfare. All the equipments available in the health system was barcoded.
The quality of the service delivered from Govt. hospitals was improved exponentially through the BEMP program. In this program, small equipment like BP apparatus to MRI Scanners are included, the third party service provider will attend all the requirements to keep the uptime of any hospital equipment, such as solving the breakdown, preventive maintenance, calibration, end user training, etc. The spare parts required for all biomedical equipment is also replaced free of cost by the third party service provider.
This program is a joint venture of National Health Mission (NHM) and Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited (KMSCL). A dashboard is provided in KMSCL website which provides all the details in real time. The Key performance Indicators are also displayed in the dash board. The details of functional and non functional assets at any point of time in any hospital can be viewed from the dashboard.