A Johns Hopkins research team reports that major hospitals across the U.S. collectively throw away at least $15 million a year in unused operating room surgical supplies that could be salvaged and used to ease critical shortages…

Many players are involved in the health product supply chain, including manufacturers, distributors, importers, health care organizations, community and hospital pharmacies, and retailers. Each has a role to play and has deep knowledge about their part of the supply chain, but knowledge and understanding of other parts of the supply can be limited.
Improving everyone's knowledge about the supply chain and sharing this knowledge among everyone will help build resilience against shortages.

One of the reasons Canada is vulnerable to shortages is that it's a small market, representing only about 2% of global drug and medical device sales.

Many healthcare facilities already have a policy in place for surplus equipment disposal, and have the option to sell, trade, or donate to a third party.

Industry experts estimate that as much as 20% of an organization’s inventory can be excess and not moving. This includes medical equipment and supplies. Some products may have been aggressively procured or manufactured simply because they were over forecasted, or did not move for a variety of reasons.