Right to Repair
Health Technology Right to Repair Position Statement
Canadian Medical and Biological Engineering Society (CMBES) is committed to supporting the Right to Repair movement through awareness, education, and advocacy.
In order to provide safe and effective medical equipment management, biomedical engineering professionals within Canada’s healthcare system require access to service training, documentation, tools, software, and parts.
CMBES is committed to encouraging our members to work together with manufacturers to ensure the functionality and availability of Canada’s medical technology to support safe and timely healthcare delivery.
CMBES Right to Repair Committee
The CMBES Right to Repair Committee pursues and develops opportunities to champion health technology right to repair initiatives through knowledge and resource sharing, advocacy locally and at the government level, collaboration with industry and research partners, and organizing conference and webinar sessions.
Co-Chairs: Kevin Taylor, Yellowknife, NWT and Sarah Samborski, Hamilton, ON
The Right to Repair Committee encourages anyone interested in supporting the advancement of health technology Right to Repair to reach out through righttorepair@cmbes.ca
FAQS:
There is a significant amount of false information regarding Health Technology Right to Repair circulated by lobby groups who are not Biomedical Engineering professionals but exist to market medical equipment manufacturer interests. For example, the initial statement made by lobby groups and a few medical equipment manufacturers who are attempting to monetize service, is that health technology right to repair is unsafe (i.e., implying only the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) can safely do repairs). This is a false statement and in fact can be easily countered with substantiated facts.
Stay tuned to see common FAQS on this topic, with responses that are substantiated by Biomedical Engineering professionals.
External Links:
Unlocking Healthcare– Investigating the technical and legal barriers to medical device repair in Canadian hospitals
CanRepair– non-profit organization with a mission of strengthening the right to repair in Canada.
FDA Report on the Quality, Safety, and Effectiveness of Servicing of Medical Devices (2018)
FDA CDRH Webinar - Final Guidance: Remanufacturing of Medical Devices
CMBES Webinar: Right to Repair & The 3D Printing Revolution by PolyUnity Tech Inc. (2025)
CMBES Webinar Right to Repair: Updates from Europe and Canada by Kevin Taylor and Alberto Lanzani (2023)
"Right to Repair in the USA: Past, Present and Future" presented by Kevin O'Reilly and Binseng Wang (2022)