Assignment task: A Problem in the Hospital
I have just been hired as the scarce resources director at a rural hospital. On the first day, the head of purchasing for the hospital comes in with a problem. This quarter, they have a limited budget of $15,000 for acquiring new equipment but they have had two urgent applications submitted.
The first is for a $15,000 kidney dialysis machine. Five new patients have been diagnosed with renal failure in the past month and the existing dialysis machine is already at capacity. The hospital is located over 200 miles from the nearest facility that offers dialysis, meaning these five patients do not have an alternative available to them. It is likely that none of them will survive if they do not receive the care they need.
The second is $15,000 for a piece of specialized surgery equipment. While this device is used to repair an incredibly rare cardiac defect (one that the hospital is unlikely to see again in the next several years), there is currently a patient in the hospital that desperately needs the surgery and will die without it.
As these are the only two applications she has received, the head of purchasing advises the hospital is definitely able to satisfy the request for one of the departments, but clearly they cannot do both. Since this is a life-or-death issue for the patients involved, it is my job to determine which application to select. What application would be chosen? What was taken into consideration when making that choice?