WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge event begins
Muscat - The World Health Organization’s third ‘Global Patient Safety Challenge: Medication without Harm’ in the Eastern Mediterranean Region was launched at the Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) on Sunday.
The two-day event is being organised by the Ministry of Health (MoH) and SQU, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).
The opening ceremony was held under the patronage of H E Dr Rawiyah bint Saud al Busaidiyah, Minister of Higher Education, in the presence of a number of ministers and undersecretaries. Senior officials from MoH are participating in the event, along with representatives from related institutions and agencies at the regional and national levels, as well as representatives from hospitals.
The WHO’s global challenges on patients’ safety are primary programmes aimed at introducing improvements in health systems and reducing risks and harms.
In her statement H E Dr Rawiyah said that ensuring quality of various services provided is important for different institutions in the sultanate. “The healthcare institutions in Oman, including those in the public and private sectors, seek to collaborate with regional and international organisations in order to implement the latest practices to raise the quality of healthcare they offer to the society. The participation of educational institutions in this event would help the students increase their awareness on the globally accepted practices to ensure patient’s safety and high quality of health- care services,” the minister added.
The opening remarks were delivered by Dr Ahmed al Mandhari, director general of quality, MoH Oman. “This meeting is the first for the WHO in the six regions. The third global challenge aims at reducing the harm caused by unsafe practices and medication errors. It focuses on improving the safety of medication by strengthening the systems required for reducing such errors.”
Dr Mahmoud Fikri, regional director, Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of WTO, and Dr Ali bin Saud al Bemani, the vice chancellor of SQU delivered the welcome address.
Dr Bemani said that Sultan Qaboos University Hospital (SQUH) spares no effort to raise the quality of health services and patient safety. “A clearest example of which was receiving an International Accreditation Certificate (ISO) 9001/2008 from 2005 to 2014. In 2014, SQUH also received an accreditation from Accreditation Canada International for Healthcare Institutions.”