By Hassan Zaggi
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has insisted that the effort by countries to attain Universal Health Coverage (UHC) will be a mirage if patient safety is not prioritized.
The WHO Country Representative, Walter Molumbo, stated this at a media briefing to make the 2023 Patient Safety Day in Abuja.
He noted that the safety of patients is a top priority for the WHO African Region and is inherent in all its efforts to achieve UHC and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.
According to him: “Evidence shows that patient engagement reduces health care errors and costs, and improves health outcomes, health care delivery, quality of care and life.
“More than 50% of the harm that patients experience is preventable if concerted efforts and requisite investment are done.”
Speaking, the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Daju Kachollom, disclosed that her Ministry has developed the first ever National Policy and Implementation Strategy on Patient Safety & care quality which, according to her, was sent for stakeholders review last week Thursday and Friday.
This, she noted, has been done in line with the Resolution 18 of the 55th World Health Assembly (WHA 55.18) which called for Member States to recognize the burden of patient safety and to set up policies to manage them.
She explained that the National Patient Safety and Care Quality policy focuses on improving patient and family engagement in health care, medication safety, surgical safety, infection prevention & control (IPC), safety of all medical procedures etc.
She expressed optimism that health facilities at all levels will adopt and implement this policy.
“Patient safety, fundamentally entails preventing errors and minimizing harm to patients during provision of healthcare services.
“These errors could come from surgical mishaps, medication errors, or diagnostic inaccuracies, however, safeguarding our patients is of utmost importance,” she said.
