Abstract:
Background: Frequent equipment failures and poor sustainability of medical devices in Ethiopian public hospitals are linked to weak acquisition practices and poor supplier selection. This study investigates acquisition challenges and presents a web-based MCDM supplier-selection application using the AHP to improve procurement decisions and reduce equipment failure.
Methods: A quantitative research design was used, combining a structured electronic survey with semi-structured interviews conducted with biomedical personnel from 12 stratified public hospitals, along with analysis of 5,432 medical devices. Quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and correlation analysis. Based on the findings, a three-tier web application (React frontend, Node.js/Express.js backend, and MySQL database) with AHP computation, role-based access control, and reporting features was developed.
Results: Results showed donation-dominated acquisitions (≈57.4%). Hospitals highly dependent on donations had higher equipment non-functionality with a strong positive correlation between donation reliance and equipment failure (r = 0.834, p = 0.001). Key gaps included weak supplier traceability (≈35.8% lack supplier), limited documentation (≈15.7% complete), poor after-sales support, low spare-parts availability, and little lifecycle cost consideration, all reducing equipment sustainability and service delivery. These findings guided the system design to evaluate suppliers based on reliability, spare-parts availability, post-sale support, warranty, training, and delivery performance. System evaluation showed high AHP accuracy, fast performance, and good usability. A demonstration-based application prioritized after-sales support and spare-parts availability and ranked suppliers accordingly, consistent with identified field challenges.
Conclusions: Embedding structured, criteria-based supplier evaluation and strong supplier traceability within a user-friendly web application has the potential to improve procurement quality, reduce equipment downtime, and enhance sustainability of medical technologies in resource-constrained hospitals. The platform provides a scalable and auditable decision-support system suitable for wider institutional use and policy integration.
