Clinical engineering in the Tucuman public health system: 1990-2001 evaluation

Tucuman is a province of Argentina with a population of 1,331,923, more than 70% of them is taken care of by the public health system. Because of this situation, public health services should optimize their organization and the technology management should be adapted to this situation. The objective is to evaluate the state of the Clinical Engineering activities in the province to compare them with those of the early 90´s. The field work has been developed, mainly, in the five main hospitals located in the province capital city and in some country centers. Comparison of the 1990 data with the present information shows a quantitative and qualitative evolution In the installed medical technology clearly manifesting the importance and benefits obtained from the adequate applications of Clinical Engineering concepts and methods. Those benefits are more outstanding when the improvements in our public radiology area are placed face to face with other medical services not having that kind of support. Unfortunately, for the time being there is no coordinated program as recommended by international organizations.