Spain's national health procurement body closed the bidding window on a new centralized CT scanner purchasing framework on 11 May, the second such framework since Plan INVEAT, the COVID-era recovery program that AuntMinnie Europe reported in July 2024 had reduced the share of obsolete CT equipment in Spain's national health system from 35% to 20%.
The new framework, part of Plan AMAT-I 2026, covers 62 CT scanners across 11 autonomous communities plus Ceuta, Melilla, and the Ministry of Defense, with a total estimated value of €46.8 million and a projected savings of €8 million compared with individual regional purchases, according to INGESA.
For the first time, it includes leasing options to accommodate administrations that cannot commit upfront capital. "We are facilitating every possible option based on the budgetary capacity of each hospital," said Javier López Jerez, subdirector general at INGESA, at the framework's presentation in March.
Sustained investment
But Spain's progress depends on sustained investment, and that is precisely what SERAM's new Technology Renewal Guide says is not happening. The guide, released March 25 in collaboration with Fundación Signo, introduces two indicators designed to shift Spain away from its long-standing pattern of crisis-driven procurement.
The Sustainable Renewal Rate (TRS) sets an annual target of 11.2% of installed CT capacity, accounting for 5% year-on-year growth in imaging demand. The Annual Equipment Purchase Index (NACE) converts that into a plain unit count. The result: Spain needs to buy around 80 to 84 CT scanners every year.
In 2024 it bought 18. In 2025, 17. Even if the new AMAT-I framework is fully executed, its 62 units spread over 24 months average just 31 per year. "The objective is to transform a historically reactive model, one dependent on extraordinary plans, into a structural, planned, and sustainable system," said Dr. Luis Concepción, lead author of the guide and a member of SERAM's board.
The cliff edge
Representatives from SERAM, INGESA, Fundación Signo, and FENIN at the presentation of Spain's new Technology Renewal Guide in March 2026.YouTube
López Jerez indicated at the March presentation that MRI and vascular interventional frameworks, valued at approximately €71 million and €40 million respectively, would follow before summer. As of early June, neither had published. The MRI framework under Plan INVEAT (AM 2021/104) remains the only active centralized agreement for that modality.
FENIN, the Spanish health technology industry federation, said that it is working to quantify the clinical and economic cost of obsolescence, with results targeted for the first quarter of 2027.
