Opening a practice means a hundred decisions, and the equipment list is the one most people build from memory — then find the gaps in the first week of seeing patients. This is the checklist we work from when we equip a new GP consulting room in South Africa: what every room needs, what the practice needs once, and what depends on the work you will actually do.
Want the list built for you? Our free practice advisor asks how many rooms you have and what you do in them, then produces this list with quantities — ready to send for a quote.
In every consulting room
- Examination couch and a step so patients can get onto it safely
- Examination lamp — a dedicated light, not the ceiling fitting
- Diagnostic set — otoscope and ophthalmoscope, wall-mounted or portable
- Vital signs — blood pressure, SpO2 and temperature, ideally in one unit, with cuffs in more than one size
- Privacy screen for examinations
- Instrument trolley for instruments and consumables
- Clinical waste bin and a soiled-waste bucket
- Clinician seating and a patient chart holder
Once per practice
- ECG machine — and its electrodes, which are a consumable
- Patient scale, plus an infant or toddler scale if you see small children
- Steriliser (autoclave) for reusable instruments
- Cautery if you will do minor procedures
- Dressing trolley
- Lockable storage for scheduled medicines
- Examination gloves and day-to-day consumables
Depending on what you do
- You vaccinate — a vaccine fridge that holds the cold chain (a domestic fridge is not the same thing)
- You keep the room emergency-ready — a defibrillator, portable suction and a drip stand
- You do minor procedures — an instrument cabinet, and a plaster saw if you do casts
Three things new practices often forget
Calibration paperwork from day one
New equipment should arrive with documentation, and measuring devices — BP machines, scales, thermometers, ECG — need calibrating on a schedule from then on. Start a simple asset list on opening day: device, serial number, date in service. It makes every future inspection easier. Here is what a calibration certificate should show.
Consumables have a lead time
Electrodes, specula, cuffs, gloves and paper rolls run out at the worst moment. Order an opening stock with the equipment, not after the first patient.
Who fixes it when it breaks?
Buying from a supplier that also repairs and calibrates means one phone call when something goes wrong, rather than three companies pointing at each other.
Surgi-Clin supplies, installs and commissions everything on this list, then services and calibrates it for as long as you own it. See new practice setup, browse the shop, or let the practice advisor build your list.