To fill this gap, Global Health Intelligence (GHI) decided to delve into its database (which covers 86% of all hospitals in Latin America and now includes Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay) to analyze which hospitals have the highest equipment counts in 4 specific categories:

• Patient care (number of beds)
• Diagnostic imaging equipment
• Cardiovascular equipment
• Maternity unit equipment

These four categories are critical pillars when evaluating patient care. The number of beds within an institution is often an indicator of the size of the hospital and may be correlated to the level of care. Diagnostic imaging equipment is essential to properly diagnose any number of life-threatening and chronic conditions. Cardiovascular equipment is just as important given the prevalence of heart disease in Latin America. A majority of births take place in hospitals and birthing is one of the main activities of most hospitals, which denotes significant importance to maternity units and infant care. While additional categories could have been included, GHI decided to focus on these 4 areas of care in order make the ranking more manageable.

Why Multiple Categories and Countries?

Rankings are often all-encompassing with no specific focus, such as the “The 50 best hospitals.” Given the complexities of healthcare systems in place and the context in which they operate, GHI opted to acknowledge these characteristics by creating a ranking per leading category. This also enables smaller yet more specialized hospitals to form part of the ranking.

GHI applied the same plurality by setting up the rankings per country in order to reflect local market dynamics accurately. For example, Brazil has over 200 million people and over 7,000 hospitals. It would be an unjust comparison to include Brazilian hospitals alongside those of Peru, for instance, a market that’s 10 times smaller.

Rankings for the Best Equipped Hospitals

The best-equipped hospitals in Argentina
The best-equipped hospitals in Brazil
The best-equipped hospitals in Chile
The best-equipped hospitals in Colombia
The best-equipped hospitals in Dominican Republic
The best-equipped hospitals in Mexico
The best-equipped hospitals in Peru
The best-equipped hospitals in Puerto Rico

Dive Deeper

This GHI ranking will give you an initial sense of which Latin American hospitals are best-equipped. But that’s just a surface view. It takes a deeper dive into the data to understand which market segments have the best potential to drive your revenues.

You can get this deep dive by subscribing to our database , which quickly lets you use data visualization tools to see which hospitals have the biggest needs and what those needs are. Parsing that is what will uncover opportunities for your sales team and allow you to grow your revenues in different markets. Check out this video to understand how the database can help drive new and existing revenue streams. Then contact GHI directly for an even deeper sense of how our database can be the perfect tool for your sales team.

Vascular stents include coronary, peripheral, carotid, femoral and aortic aneurysm stents. Major driver for this market is the increasing disease burden coupled with increasing demand for minimally invasive procedures. Other factors driving growth include technological advancements in stents, increasing geriatric population and disease awareness.

However, indirect competition from alternative treatment procedures, stringent regulations, product failure/recall, etc. are some of the aspects restraining the market growth. Of the three types of stents in the market i.e. bare-metal stents (BMS), drug-eluting stents (DES), and bioabsorbable stents, DES accounted for the largest share in 2016. This can be primarily attributed to the lower risk of restenosis with DES over BMS.

The balloon-expandable stents segment is anticipated to growth at higher CAGR than the self-expanding stents due to their increasing use in angioplasty procedures. North America has the largest market share for vascular stents in 2016. However, the factors such as large population base, rising technology adoption and low manufacturing costs are expected to drive the Asian market with highest growth during the forecast period.

The vascular market is highly fragmented with key players including Medtronic, Abbott Laboratories, Boston Scientific Corporation, Biotronik, B. Braun, Terumo Corporation, Stentys, MicroPort Scientific Corporation, Meril Life Sciences, Vascular Concepts, W. L. Gore and Associates, C. R. Bard (BD acquired), Endologix, Lombard Medical Technologies, Translumina and Jotec.

The report requested the government to consider the policies for allowing better distribution of professionals in locations deprived of specialists. Two migratory waves were observed in Uruguay; one during the dictatorship and the other during the economic crisis in 2002. However, the situation seems to have reversed with very few doctors migrating to other countries in search of better working conditions.

According to the Medical Union there is zero unemployment in the sector, yet 7% and 10% of Uruguayan doctors work abroad. The majority travel to Spain (51.7%) followed by Chile (24.4%). With the reversal of situation, doctors from other nations are moving to Uruguay for work, especially from Venezuela, Cuba and Pakistan.

Several of these products were not available for purchase in pharmacies due to their low turnover and high cost. This forced user to buy them in places which did not guarantee the product quality putting the health of the population at risk.

DIGEMID approved a list of medical devices to be available at the drugstores and laboratories where people who need them can buy at ease and reducing illegal trade. The document also stated that other medical devices such as vital signs monitors, defibrillators, electrocardiographs, anesthesia machines, X-ray equipment, tomographs, mammograms, in vitro diagnostic reagents, etc. can be purchased directly from the drugstores by healthcare professionals at Institutions that Provide Health Services (IPRESS). The DIGEMID specialists also indicated that very low-risk medical devices such as stethoscopes, electronic thermometers, dental instruments can be sold directly to the public in commercial establishments.

Brazil was no exception. The economic downturn resulted in 22% decrease in imports across all major medical devices and equipment.

Download the complete report for more information.

For the survey 23 hospitals in the capital of each state, university hospitals, 371 public and private hospitals, 92 hospitals Type II, Type III, Type IV (large hospitals) were considered. Around 97% of the country’s public health laboratories had shortage of reagents to perform the medical tests. This implies that patients were forced to go private laboratories to perform their medical tests.

Out of pocket pay decreased from 81% in 2016 to 75% in 2017. Around 64% of the pediatric wards in the hospitals had shortage of milk formulas while the same percentage of kitchens of public hospitals were not operational because of no food supplies.

The survey also revealed that 89% of X-ray equipment is either non-operational or intermittent, 71% of hospitals do not have working ultrasound equipment and 94% of CT scans are not functional.

On the contrary, private sector hospitals have 100% of beds and operating rooms in working condition. The private sector treats 55% of Venezuelans. The country has been experiencing medicine shortage for over two years. Physicians and representatives of the public health sector have repeatedly condemned the infrastructure conditions of hospitals, the lack of medicines, as well as the shortage of medical supplies.

The rise in obesity rates make it clear that there is a need to for diet and healthy living to curb the rise of “globesity”. Efforts by governments, food producers, retailers, employers and insurance companies must to combine tackle the obesity crisis. Statistics by WHO show that obesity rates have more than doubled since 1980.

Currently, 13% of adults across the globe have been classified as obese and nearly 40% as overweight. This is a pressing issue and the numbers are expected to rise further collaborative and targeted action is not taken.

Globesity can be tackled through a holistic approach combining health incentives, taxes and education programs. One of the most effective means of reducing obesity is providing clear information about the direct correlation between nutrition, weight gain and non-communicable diseases.