Australian bodies reach medical guidelines compromise

The New South Wales Peak Purchasing Council and Medical Industry Association of Australia have agreed that clinical considerations should outweigh environmental concerns when making purchasing decisions. The Council has prepared a final draft of the Environmental Purchasing Guidelines, which will be presented to hospital purchasers to assist them in looking at environmental issues. The MIAA considered that separate guidelines should be drawn up for clinical products rather than covering them in the generic guidelines for clinical and general product categories and that a patient's interests must always come first.