【正文】 paratuses. Many automatic systems for ECG processing, including syndromal diagnosis, have been developed, but they trove not been tested and are of little demand. However, simple threechannel electrocardiographs of mass scale application are not produced by domestic manufacturers. Foreign manufacturers offer various ultrasonic scanners and sophisticated imaging systems. Domestic manufacturers produce only simple devices with manual sectorbysector scanning and a few simplified models with linear electronic scanning. Some positive results have been achieved in the development of endoscopic devices. These achievements are mainly due to the collaboration between LOMO and some panies from Japan. However, even these devices require further improvement of quality and reliability. Although the level of production of domestic laboratory equipment has noticeably risen in recent years, it is still too little to meet the demand. The number of organizations involved in the development of such equipment has risen. However, the available devices are simple and have limited functional capacity. Many important devices (., automatic analyzers and simple routine devices) are not produced at all. Devices for blood transfusion and preparing blood substitute solutions are still in short supply (40 million items have been produced, while the demand is 200 million). The demand in dialyzers and polymer infusion systems reaches 100 and 150 million items, respectively, although such systems are not produced at all. The correspondence between production and demand, quality and technical performance, and adequate testing of medical production are put in the forefront under conditions of a market economy. The problem of petition with foreign manufacturers is also quite important because of increasing import of medical equipment and reduced sale of the production of domestic manufacturers. In this connection, the following circumstances should be taken into consideration. There is a considerable disproportion between production and demand of some groups of medical devices. For example, there is :~ huge surplus of laser therapeutic devices and their excessive development. Systems for syndromal electrocardiographic diagnosis, magotherapy, and electrostimulation are also in excessive supply. However, simple electrocardiographs, routine laboratory equipment, and some other ordinary but necessary devices of massscale application are not produced by domestic manufacturers. These disadvantages cause significant economic losses and present difficulties in the development of health service. Domestic and foreign experience show that these problems can be solved by adequate marketing, but this is in its infancy in the domestic medical industry. It should be noted that foreign panies place special emphasis on marketing and market research. They evaluate actual and pending demand as well as consumer requirements. The feedback between consumer and manufacturer gives valuable information on the improvement of the product quality and working performance. The marketing service in most leading panies is of paramount importance. The development of a new product often starts from marketing survey rather than from engineering or design research. Many domestic organizations of medical instrument engineering require cardinal measures for increasing the level of marketing. Testing of medical devices also requires substantial improvement. Considerable experience of foreign manufacturers of medical equipment should be taken into account. It should be noted, however, that this experience is often neglected by domestic manufacturers. Technical testing of medical equipment in foreign panies is usually carried out by independent laboratories which assess performance and quality. The specialists of the laboratories may also give remendations for further improvement of the tested equipment. The basic goal of the testing is to check if the performance of the device matches its specifications and to conclude if the device can be used in medical organizations. However, the specialists of the laboratories usually go beyond this goal and issue parative reviews of products of different panies. Such reviews contain the following information: description of tested device, its specifications, and price。 parative analysis of similar devices and apparatuses produced by different manufacturers. Such analysis is usually concluded by a most preferable model, which is remended to medical organizations on the basis of functional capacity, reliability, and economic reasons. In the USA, activity of testing laboratories is controlled by governmental, nongovernmental, and independent nonprofit organizations. In Russia, the problem of balance between the demand in medical devices, their production by domestic manufacturers, and import is of considerable importance. The opinion of the Head of the Department of Medical Industry, Russian Ministry of Health and Medical Industry, Yu. F. Doshchitsin, which was published in the weekly Meditsinskii Biznes (No. 9, 1995), is that the requirements of Russian medical market must be met by domestic devices, including products of high technology. Russian medicine should not rely on imported devices alone. We certainly agree with this opinion. The total volume of medical equipment purchased from abroad is presently several times greater than purchases from domestic manufacturers. This situation is definitely unacceptable. Cardinal measures are required to boost and stimulate economically domestic manufacturers