Fresh recall and alert records from seven new countries and one territory have been added to the International Medical Devices Database.

Patients and their families around the world now have access to more than 109,000 records relating to medical devices in 26 countries and their manufacturers.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ International Medical Devices Database contains product recalls, safety alerts and field safety notices.

The latest addition of more than 16,600 records come from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, El Salvador, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy and New Zealand.

The International Medical Devices Database was first published in November 2018, as part of ICIJ’s Implant Files investigation that tracked the harm caused by medical devices that have been tested inadequately or not at all.

More than 250 journalists in 36 countries collaborated to examine how devices were tested, approved, marketed and monitored.

Implant Files was the first global investigation into the industry and revealed that patients were often the last to know about the safety information relating to their device.

To increase transparency, ICIJ created the publicly searchable database and has been updating it since.

The database’s interface is available in English, French, Korean, and Spanish.

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