All medical gas equipment manufacturers have their own version of a warranty. Some, of course, are better than others. Some companies boast about how long their warranty period is, but have no service department to actually fix a problem if one should occur. Others have a full staff of service technicians that can be on-site within a two hour period in the event of a catastrophic failure.
While it is important to choose medical gas equipment that backs what you buy with the best available warranty, the fact is that it still is just a warranty; it does not take the place of planned preventative maintenance.
Many are under the misconception that their equipment does not need to be maintained during the warranty period. When you purchase a new car, it may come with a three or four year warranty; but that does not mean you shouldn’t change the oil, windshield wipers, brakes or tires during the warranty period.
Imagine you bought a new car and never changed the brakes during the warranty period. Would you feel safe? Now imagine you are a patient at a healthcare facility, and you are about to be operated on with tools and equipment that you know is under warranty but has not been cleaned or serviced in years. Would you still want to be operated on there?
Warranties are meant to provide assurance that what you have purchased will work as it was designed for a pre-determined length of time; not to take the place of maintaining them during that time. It is critical that the equipment is maintained according to the manufacturer's specifications. Some manufacturers will void a warranty if the equipment has not been maintained properly.
The patients that visit our healthcare facilities do not have the option of knowing if the equipment used to care for them is being maintained properly; therefore, it is up to you to make certain that it is. Do you have a planned maintenance program in place? If not, do you have a service company doing it for you? You owe it to the patients to be proactive by maintaining your medical gas equipment, which will decrease your odds of having to be reactive if a potentially life changing failure should occur.
