Podcast: The importance of medical device sustainability
Haroon Atchia and Anna Novakovich of Quality First International talk to the JMDR about the importance and understanding of medical device sustainability
Listen to Haroon and Anna answer questions on the following topics:
- In your opinion, are medical device companies aware of the full environmental impact of their devices? Does this awareness vary through the different lifecycle stages of the device?
- Most device companies consider the concepts of safety, efficacy and cost when designing their devices but not so many also consider environmental impacts and consequences from produced and used devices. Could you explain to us what sustainability is and why this concept is important to the medical device industry?
- The new European Regulations on medical devices and IVDs do not include any requirements specifically relating to environmental sustainability. Are there any other European Regulations or Directives that are applicable to the environmental sustainability of medical devices?
- What about voluntary standards or guidance documents?
- As it is not a legal requirement for medical devices to be designed in an environmentally-friendly or sustainable way, what are the incentives for companies to consider these concepts?
- In 2019, you (Haroon) wrote an article for the Journal of Medical Device Regulation proposing a number of Basic Environmental Performance Requirements (BEPRs). These BEPRs define attributes specific to medical devices that could be used to produce designs consistent with a sustainability philosophy. The individual BEPRs are grouped into eight main sections. What are those groupings and how companies could make use of BEPRs?
- If a medical device company wants to produce environmentally-friendly products and work towards integrating environmental sustainability into its business processes, where should they start?
