The development of clinical engineering in Latin America and the Caribbean

At the beginning of the new millennium, the health sector of Latin American and Caribbean countries is undergoing a profound transformation. The driving forces behind those changes are related to increasing demands to expand coverage, improve the quality of healthcare services, and by the desire to provide a more equitable access to services, especially in relation to the neediest social segments of the population. As part of the health sector reform processes there has been renewed emphasis in the renovation and upgrading of physical infrastructures and a rapid and massive incorporation of new healthcare technologies. The Ministries of Health are developing and strengthening the capacity for management and maintenance of the physical and technological infrastructure of healthcare services in order to bring them in line with the user expectations and the requirements and obligations of the reformed health sector.