The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Ensure patient safety through collaborative effort: healthcare specialists

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 14, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Ensure patient safety through collaborative effort: healthcare specialists

Staff Reporter

International Healthcare Leadership Summit opens

CHENNAI: Patient safety can be ensured through collaborative effort of various stakeholders, from the government to private organisations and hospitals.

A commitment to healthcare and improvement of patient safety were essential across the nations: this was the bottom line of a presentation on patient's safety, organised as part of International Healthcare Leadership Summit, hosted by Madras Medical Mission Hospital on Saturday.

Karen H.Timmons, president of Joint Commission Resources, USA, and Director WHO World Alliance for Patient Safety underlined the solutions listed by International Steering Committee comprising experts in patient safety. Needle reuse, `soundlike and looklike' medications and wrong procedures were some of the problems to be addressed.

The committee would reconvene in April to discuss the solutions and develop dissemination strategies for various nations, she said.

Highlighting the objectives of the Joint Commission International, WHO's collaborating centre for patient safety, Ms. Timmons said regional advisory councils had been established in Asia Pacific, Middle East and Europe to identify and disseminate information on patient safety.

An accreditation programme would be proposed for emergency care and medication for the benefit of developing countries, she added.

Fried Oelschlegel, vice-president of International Projects, Saudi German Hospitals, Saudi Arabia, briefed on the health scenario in Africa and the need for not-for-profit organisations in improving healthcare.

He said the rich nations must contribute 0.7 per cent of their GDP for third world countries.

Per Gunnar Svensson, director general, International Hospital Federation(IHF) and conference president, and John Punnose, chief executive officer of MMM hospital spoke.

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