Medical equipment and technology – A new horizon

The world has seen the perfect disaster. A disaster created by SARS CoV-2 (corona virus). While its origin fades into obscurity, the havoc that it has created as a disease is unparalleled. It has destroyed health – physical, mental, social, and spiritual, the economy globally, prevented travel, came in waves (to our surprise), and unleashed ferociousness of a different kind.

The world fought back; humanity fought back. We created clinical pathways and experimented with medicines quickly, came down to the best regimens with treatment for a positive patient outcome. The query here is what this has got to do with medical equipment or with in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) as the basic focus was on the clinical and therapeutic modalities.

The gold standard in diagnosis of the disease is the reverse transcription-polymerous chain reaction (RT-PCR), which is a test performed by molecular biology techniques. Thus, enters the world of medical equipment and also in-vitro diagnostics.

With the load of RT-PCR shooting through the roof, subsequent alternatives were looked for and a simple X-ray of the chest was revealing and of course high-resolution CT scan (HRCT) also ensured very quick diagnosis despite the fact that RT-PCR reports were taking time to come. Gene Expert along with covid antigen test was also very useful for rapid diagnosis.

Thus, this leads to the fact that without the medical equipment and only clinical suspicion, it would have precluded accurate diagnosis and left the clinician in a quandary as to what therapy should be embarked upon. These delays have also resulted in loss of human life.

Modern medicine has to be backed up by clinical acumen but an extraordinary end of medical equipment is in-vitro diagnostic equipment. It is necessary for the equipment to be human language-compliant, and with the capability of being linked to the hospital information system and also picture archival communication system (PACS).

The equipment has to be such that the reagent used for the test is sensitive and also specific. To illustrate – today a 3T MRI is turning out to be the point of care.

Similarly, fully automated laboratories with high throughput will be necessary to support the kind of aggressive therapy, newer diseases would be throwing up. High-resolution ultrasound, 2D echo machines, digital X-ray machines, 256 slice CT scan machine, and 3T MRIs may soon be the order of the day and, given the recent advances in therapy, may be the tools required for the clinicians to render high-end therapy.

Robotics to a certain extent has seen the light of the day but high-definition laparoscopic equipment with harmonic attachments has stolen a march over robotics not only in imagery but also in ease of functioning.

Neurosciences would require stereotactic surgery, and for that super high-end microscopes will be required to differentiate pathological tissues from the normal ones. This will help outcomes, and ensure that a tumor section in the brain is completely done. This would ensure good recovery and good quality of life.

Thus, it underscores the fact that medical equipment with newer technological horizons will be the requirement in the coming year.
Cardiology, neurology, orthopedics, as well as most surgical disciplines, will demand high medical equipment as the technical skill is readily available to provide healthcare. There is the question of cost but prepaid healthcare is taking steady steps, and more people are looking at insurance. This again in turn will enhance the demand of the patient for quality tertiary care, which would be impossible without newer medical equipment as well as newer technology.

At our hospital, we have ensured that we have kept pace with technology and are today at the forefront with of modern medical technology, which has helped us in rendering the highest-end medical care for the last one-and-a-half years, and we will continue to do so in the future.