The accreditation of two companies — "ProMedica" and "Medserviss-M" — has been revoked for superficial and formal conduct of medical equipment inspections, reports TV3.
Video materials obtained by the television channel show that in certain healthcare facilities, annual technical inspections of medical equipment are practically not conducted, and are limited to sticking labels and making entries in documents.
At least 20 violations have been recorded, including during inspections of defibrillators and patient monitors, where the necessary measuring devices were not used and the operation of the devices was not tested.
Technical inspections of medical equipment must be conducted once a year, carried out by accredited private companies. The Health Inspectorate oversees most medical equipment, while the Radiation Safety Centre of the State Environmental Service oversees X-ray and radiation therapy equipment. Accreditation is granted to companies by the Latvian National Accreditation Bureau.
After evaluating the information received, on January 22, the Latvian National Accreditation Bureau revoked the accreditation of both companies, prohibiting them from further testing medical equipment. "Medserviss-M" has appealed the decision to the accreditation bureau.
Company representatives do not acknowledge the violations and state that the inspection conducted was filmed illegally.
Responsible institutions point to the shared responsibility of healthcare facilities for the quality control of services received. At the same time, it is acknowledged that the resources of state institutions are limited: only a few employees at the Health Inspectorate are responsible for oversight of medical equipment, while the Radiation Safety Centre has ten inspectors, whereas the number of devices being inspected is in the thousands.
Since 2017, there has been no centralized database of medical equipment in healthcare facilities, which complicates oversight. After violations are identified, responsible institutions promise to assess possible improvements to the system; however, a specific action plan has not yet been developed.
