A Method to Identify New Needs for Medical Equipment

This paper presents a Method to identify new needs for medical equipment based on the Availability Matrix proposed by the World Health Organization. This Matrix is an instrument to map new medical devices for the care of high incidence diseases. The Method considers information on the epidemiology of the patients attended, the demand for health care services and the available medical equipment. It was applied to the main cause of morbidity: congenital malformations, deformities, and chromosomal abnormalities, attended at the National Institute of Pediatrics from Mexico for 2014-2018 period. The four diseases with the highest incidence were chosen. The Method identified thirteen new medical equipment for the care of such diseases. Three for diagnosis and ten for rehabilitation.Clinical Relevance-Medical equipment purchase must solve clinical needs related with the highest incidence diseases. This is translated into effective and safe care for a greater number of patients with such diseases, and the hospital will have the most appropriate medical equipment to take care of patients with the best health technology.