Decommissioning medical devices

Medical devices play a pivotal role in healthcare, aiding in disease prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation. Recognizing their significance, the World Health Assembly adopted resolution WHA60.29 in 2007, emphasizing the need for appropriate deployment, use, and management of these devices. This resolution underscored the necessity of prioritizing health technologies to achieve health-related developmental goals and prompted WHO to assist Member States in enhancing access to and quality of medical devices. In response, WHO has formulated a comprehensive agenda, action plans, tools, and guidelines. This document is part of a series that provides guidance on various aspects of medical device management, including policy development, regulatory frameworks, health technology assessment, management, prioritization, and innovation. Some notable publications include guidelines on medical device policies, regulatory frameworks, health technology assessments, and lists of priority medical devices for specific health areas. The series targets a wide audience, from policymakers to biomedical engineers, hospital managers, donors, NGOs, and academic institutions. This specific document builds on WHO's 2011 guidance, emphasizing that the decommissioning of medical devices is as crucial as their procurement. Given the vast array of health technologies today, making informed decisions on decommissioning and disinvestment is becoming increasingly vital for health technology selection in various countries.