OT tables: specify around the surgery list, then pool the buy

What you are actually buying

An operating table is a base, a column and a sectional tabletop, and the sections and accessories are determined by the lists the theatre actually runs: general, orthopaedic with a traction attachment, obstetric, or urology with drainage and translucent sections. Quotes diverge on control type, hydraulic through electro-hydraulic to fully electric, on battery-backed operation and the manual override path, on maximum safe working load and articulation range, on which tabletop sections are radiolucent, and most of all on accessories. Buyers habitually settle the table and leave leg holders, arm boards, head rests, side rails and mattresses to be sorted later, which is exactly where two quotes stop being comparable.

Why ot table suits collective purchasing

This is among the better early categories. Every theatre needs a table, a group of institutions generates far more tables than scanners, and the specification collapses into two or three tiers by surgical discipline. The supply side is broad, with imported and Indian manufacturers both credible, so technical qualification followed by competitive bidding has real depth. Because the product is mechanical rather than software-bound, technical evaluation is largely physical inspection and demonstration, which a group can arrange once on behalf of everyone rather than each institution repeating it alone in its own purchase.

How a pool for this runs

Also pooled under Operation theatre & CSSD