A hospital can own a medical device and still lack access to its clinical value. Equipment can sit idle because maintenance is unavailable, spare parts are missing, staff were not trained, consumables cannot be sourced or the technology does not fit the local workflow.
That gap between purchase and functionality is now receiving formal regional attention.
On September 10, WHO's South-East Asia Region announced that member states had adopted a resolution to strengthen access to medical devices, in vitro diagnostics and assistive technologies through an integrated lifecycle approach, from planning and regulation through procurement, maintenance, replacement and safe decommissioning.
Target year for member states to designate a national lead mechanism or focal unit for lifecycle management.
Procurement is only one moment in the lifecycle
The framework pushes the conversation beyond acquisition price. WHO's implementation material points to service needs, standardized specifications, forecasting, supply resilience, bundled service arrangements, maintenance systems, digital asset inventories, spare-parts planning and biomedical-engineering capacity.
That is a meaningful operational shift. The relevant question is no longer simply, can we buy it. It becomes, can we keep it functioning safely and affordably where it is needed.
Measurement is moving closer to functionality
Member states agreed to establish national leadership mechanisms by 2027 and conduct baseline assessments by 2028 covering service and diagnostic gaps, regulatory capacity and the availability, location, functionality and maintenance status of priority equipment.
For manufacturers, distributors and health systems, that can change the definition of value. Installation numbers alone tell an incomplete story. Uptime, training, service response, consumable availability and useful clinical deployment matter.
A device that cannot be maintained is not access. A diagnostic that lacks consumables is not capacity. A technology that does not fit the workflow is not an outcome.
What companies should watch
Watch national implementation plans, essential-device and diagnostics lists, procurement requirements, service-level expectations and investments in health-technology management. International manufacturers should expect local service capability and lifecycle support to matter increasingly in market-access discussions.
This is outcome alignment in practice. Manufacturers, distributors, procurement teams, biomedical engineers, regulators and providers can each perform their individual task correctly while the technology still fails to deliver its intended outcome. The opportunity is to connect those participants around functionality rather than transaction completion.