Original title: Be cautious about “disposable medical consumables can be reused”
Donji Weide
According to “Chengdu Business Daily”, I feel that high-value medical consumables In the case of being wasted, Liang Yijian, a representative of the National People’s Congress and an expert in the correction of extremely severe spinal deformities, made suggestions to the competent authorities for three consecutive years: some disposable medical consumables can be reused. Liang Yijian also put forward suggestions and proposals that some disposable medical consumables can be reused at the National Two Sessions in the past few years. The National Health and Medical Commission once responded to this: In practice, some medical consumables can indeed be reused.
The prominent feature of disposable medical consumables is “disposable”, which is mainly based on the safety in the medical process. In the absence of mature disinfection conditions and quality control, repeated use is very difficult. It is easy to cause cross-infection between patients. Previously, affected by factors such as the imperfect disinfection management system, cross-infection caused by medical consumables and equipment in hospitals occurred from time to time, and some medical accidents were also caused.
Based on this, relevant laws and regulations have put forward rigid requirements that disposable medical consumables “should not be reused” and “should only be used once”. For example, the “Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices” stipulates that medical institutions shall not reuse single-use medical devices; those that have been used shall be destroyed in accordance with relevant state regulations and recorded. The “Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases”, “Measures for Disinfection Management”, “Measures for Management of Hospital Infections” and “Measures for the Supervision and Management of Disposable Sterile Medical Devices” also clearly stipulate the principle of “disposable use”.
With the advancement of technology and through practical tests, it is not entirely impossible for some disposable medical consumables to be reused.
Take Liang Yijian’s orthopaedics as an example, the ultrasonic bone knife head costs 6,000 yuan, which is a big burden regardless of medical insurance payment or patient self-payment. Since the ultrasonic bone knife head is made of metal, coupled with the mature hospital sense control technology as a guarantee, it can actually be used repeatedly after disinfection. In this way, it is a good thing for patients and medical resources.
It should be faced up to the fact that whether disposable medical devices or disposable medical devices can be reused has been debated in the industry for many years. Because of the trade-offs between fairness and efficiency, public welfare and profit, it seems difficult for all parties to find a “greatest common divisor”. At the same time, there are still many bottlenecks in the reuse of some disposable medical consumables. For example, consumable manufacturers are required to provide cleaning, disinfection and sterilization methods for the reuse of disposable medical consumables, which may affect the interests of related companies. Another example is that the approval authority for disposable medical consumables rests with the drug regulatory department, and access to use is subject to the constraints of the medical insurance department. If relevant practices are truly put into action, multi-departmental coordination and linkage are required.
For the reusability of some disposable medical consumables, the “Regulations on the Supervision and Administration of Medical Devices” that came into effect in 2014 made a partial explanation: “The catalog of disposable medical devices is regulated by the State Food and Drug Administration. It is formulated, adjusted and announced in conjunction with the competent department of health and family planning under the State Council.” It can be seen that the catalogue of single-use medical devices is not “one-piece”, but can be adjusted, increased or decreased through relevant departments, through corresponding procedures, and through practical exploration. This work can be called “a single trigger and a whole body”, and it may have an impact on patients, hospitals, medical device manufacturers, the allocation of medical resources, and so on.
For this reason, all parties concerned should treat the “Catalogue of Disposable Medical Devices” rationally and prudently, face up to and pay attention to the problems in reality, and realize between safety and cost and the interests of all parties. Better balance and properly handle relevant issues in accordance with legal regulations and procedural requirements.