What We Do
What is medical surplus?
It is a well-known fact that the United States spends more on healthcare than any other developed country1. Likewise, the United States provides some of the best healthcare services in the world, from advanced surgical procedures to cutting-edge biomedical innovations. However, a major flaw in the current healthcare system is that each year, the US healthcare system wastes an estimated $765 billion a year in medical supplies2. In stark contrast, hospitals in many South Asian countries lack resources to provide basic services to their patients. Surplus medical supplies from the US could be invaluable to hospitals in developing countries struggling to accommodate the patient volume they encounter, as well as free clinics within the United States, which rely on donations to continue to serve underprivileged communities.
Why are supplies wasted?
In the United States, medical equipment is discarded for various reasons including the following:
- An updated model was released
- The hospital changed vendors
- A piece of equipment reached the expiration date but is still unused and in working condition
- If a product is placed in the room of a patient, cannot be used again even if not opened
Our Role
At MedSurplus United, we work with hospitals as well as other medical surplus recovery organizations to reallocate surplus medical equipment to rural hospitals in South Asia as well as supporting free clinics in the United States.
Countries
These are all of the countries we hope to support.
United States
Free clinics across the nation rely on donations and volunteer work to operate. These clinics are important facets of many communities because of the high price of healthcare in the United States. Some families do not have access to health insurance to help them cover the cost of healthcare. As a result, they rely on these free clinics for treatments for common illnesses.
Sri Lanka
Since the implementation of universal healthcare, Sri Lanka has seen remarkable improvements in its healthcare system. Both its maternal and infant mortality rates have dropped drastically.
Despite the progress, there has been an increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and cerebrovascular disease. These cases are putting pressure on the healthcare system. There needs to be more emphasis on primary care, which lacks resources. Additionally, the country has the 4th highest suicide rate in the world, which is why mental health needs to be integrated at the primary care level. Finally, Sri Lanka also faces alarming rates of communicable diseases, such as dengue fever, tuberculosis, and influenza.
India
Some of the major challenges India faces with regards to public health include respiratory conditions resulting from pollution, lack of access to healthcare in rural areas, lack of access to mental health resources, substance abuse, sanitation infrastructure, and malnutrition. Major communicable diseases include malaria, tuberculosis, diarrheal disease, acute respiratory infections, leprosy, and AIDS. Noncommunicable diseases include diabetes mellitus, cancer, and blindness. Also, maternal health is another area for improvement in India.Pakistan
Pakistan faces many challenges from non-communicable diseases including cancer, ischemic heart disease, stroke, diabetes, hypertension, mental health conditions, and asthma. Some of the communicable diseases include malaria, tuberculosis, dengue fever, hepatitis, acute respiratory infections, and HIV/AIDS.
More than 60 million people are living below the poverty line in Pakistan. These people cannot meet their basic needs due to limited finance. Many of the local hospitals, which they have access to, lack resources to treat the large number of patients. Hospitals in the more developed parts of the country belong to the private sector and generally have more resources, leading to a clear disparity in healthcare across different regions in Pakistan.
Afghanistan
Although healthcare access and quality have been improving over the last twenty years, challenges abound. With a population of more than 37 million, Afghanistan has only 150 hospitals, including regional, district, and special military hospitals, with three doctors per 10,000 people. Though it is improving each year, the Afghanistan healthcare system has many areas in which it can be assisted. Afghanistan faces many logistical challenges that make providing adequate healthcare extremely difficult. For example, lack of security, lack of infrastructure, economic hardship, poor coordination among government and health care providers, minimal access to health care facilities, unsuitable hospital conditions, and few trained healthcare workers.
Some of the most common conditions in Afghanistan are cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes mellitus, respiratory disease. In women, the leading causes of death are infectious/parasitic and cardiovascular disease followed by respiratory infections.
Bangladesh
Similar to many of the other South Asian countries, Bangladesh suffers from both a shortage and mal-distribution of human resources for health (HRH). There are about 3 physicians and one nurse per 10,000 people. Moreover, healthcare workers are concentrated in urban secondary and tertiary hospitals, although 70% of the population lives in rural areas. Although Bangladesh showed the fastest annual reduction in stillbirth rates among all countries in South Asia over 2000–2015, it is still ranked seventh globally in terms of the absolute number of stillbirths. Additionally, Bangladesh faces challenges with regard to maternal health, with 82% of married woman experiencing gender-based violence.
Nepal
The people of Nepal face multiple public health challenges including childhood diseases such as diarrhea and respiratory diseases. With regard to maternal health, common complications include antepartum hemorrhage, postpartum hemorrhage, pre-eclampsia, and eclampsia. Some of the most common non-communicable diseases are tuberculosis, malaria, dengue fever, and HIV/AIDS. Noncommunicable diseases include hypertension, coronary heart diseases, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney diseases is common due to lifestyle choices. Due to the geography, the country is at high risk for natural disasters. Substance abuse is also prevalent and as with many other South Asian countries, access to healthcare and mental health resources is sparse in rural areas.
Bhutan
In Bhutan, there is limited access to healthcare professionals. Evidence-based resource allocation via the Health Technology Assessment (HTA) when purchasing medical supplies is the main solution used by the government to bridge the gap between maintaining financial sustainability and providing the best care. Still, budget shortfalls leave the Bhutanese people vulnerable and hinge health outcomes on donations from other countries. Maternal health is a major area in which Bhutan is still improving. This is as a result of more widespread access to contraceptives.
Maldives
Some of the major health concerns in the Maldives are non-communicable diseases which account for 70% of all mortality. The most common are cardiovascular diseases. The obesity rate is one of the highest in the WHO Southeast Asia Region. High cholesterol and heavy usage of tobacco are some other common health issues in the Maldives. While communicable diseases made up about 16% of mortality in 2008, the Maldives has made great strides in improving this with malaria being eliminated. Some other challenges include childhood illnesses. The most common causes of death for children under the age of five include congenital anomalies, premature birth, birth asphyxia, and pneumonia. Additionally, there is no policy regarding mental health in the Maldives, and accessibility of information regarding mental illness is very low.
[1] The Most Expensive Health Care System In The World
[2] Hospitals Waste Billions of Dollars in Medical Supplies