Clinical engineering in the Tucuman Public Hospital: (With some perspectives into South America)

The Tucumán Public Health Care System (TPHCS) must absorb the medical requirements of about 70 % of the province population (10⁶ people). It is an anachronic system, with numerous equipments out of service due to lack of technical assistance, spare parts and/or maintenance budget. Efforts to improve it so far have been isolated and without true planning. Since 1990, we have been developing a modest but coordinated program within the frame of the University and the TPHCS including: (1) technical survey of the existing equipments, and (2) training of the personnel involved in the operation and/or maintenance of medical equipments (nurses, technicians, paramedics). The situation in the rest of Argentina and in other South American countries does not seem to differ very much, even though there are exceptions mainly located in the big cities.