title: Study of large medical equipment allocation in Xuzhou.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the allocation and management of large medical equipment (LME) in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, in order to make the best use of LME to meet the medical needs of local people.
  
  
  METHODS
  The research collected data from all hospitals that have LME in Xuzhou using questionnaire; 38 (97.4%) hospitals returned the questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In Xuzhou, there are a total of 71 pieces of LME, each serving 126 600 people in an area of 163 km(2). Sixty-two percent of them are allocated in urban areas, with Gini coefficient at 0.52, indicating imbalance and biased allocation of LME.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The allocation of LME in Xuzhou is out of control and unfairly allocated.
authors.affiliation: School of Public Health, Xuzhou Medical College, Xuzhou, China. jumpinghorse@163.com
authors.forename: Chun-xia
authors.initials: CX
authors.lastname: Miao
authors.forename: Lang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhuo
authors.forename: Yu-ming
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: Zhao-hui
authors.initials: ZH
authors.lastname: Qin
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004864:Equipment and Supplies; D006761:Hospitals; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires