Second-rate medical equipment still used

MEDAN, North Sumatra: Minister of Health Achmad Sujudi expressed his concern over the fact that many private hospitals in the country only imported secondhand medical equipment.

Sujudi said, in his opening remarks at the Medical Expo 2004, here on Saturday, the equipment sometimes arrived in the country in a poor condition.

In his speech, read by a member of Achmad's staff, who is also an expert on health technology and pharmacology, Richard Panjaitan, the minister ordered the mandatory sterilization of any equipment brought in from overseas.

Ironically, Sujudi said, doctors sometimes insisted on using the poor equipment in order to cover the funds spent on its purchase and maintenance. -- JP