World Health Organisation praises Oman's 'Patient Safety Initiative'

Muscat: The World Health Organisation (WHO) has announced full support to Oman’s expanded “Patient Safety Initiative”.
In statement posted on Twitter, WHO said, “We acknowledge the commendable efforts and the great political commitment at the highest levels that have led to the expansion of the patient safety friendly hospital initiative in the Sultanate.”
“Indeed, the initiative is now covering 26 hospitals from the public and private sectors, showing a great practice model for other countries to follow.”
According to WHO, millions of patients die or are injured every year because of unsafe and poor quality health care. Most of these deaths and injuries are avoidable.
Health care-related adverse events are now estimated to be the 14th leading cause of death and injuries globally.
Of an estimated 421 million hospitalisations in the world every year, 1 in 10 results in some kind of harmful effect.
At least half of these can be prevented along with the associated financial and psychological consequences.
The WHO’s regional office provides tools and training for nationals and technical support to national capacity-building, education, advocacy and awareness-raising programmes.
The programme aims to ensure the patient’s voice is heard and that the community is actively involved in patient safety programmes.
The programme also aims to shed light on the magnitude of the patient safety problem and to liaise with relevant counterparts and policy-makers to take action for improvement. Evaluations are conducted by the Health Ministry in partnership with experts from WHO, with four hospitals in Muscat, Ibra, and Sohar the latest to be evaluated.