Demand for medical care and, hence, for all the equipment that enables the care to be delivered, has been rising exponentially in recent years. There are two, somewhat related reasons for this. Firstly, there are an increasing number of conditions that can now be treated effectively. In the past it was much more common to be told that you would just have to live with the illness and suffer or you might be told that you were going to die. Of course, all of this still happens, but it is much more likely that some treatment will be offered. The second factor is the mean age of the population in western countries is rising – we are living longer – and medical treatment requirements tend to increase with age… (more…)