PIMS marks patient safety day

ISLAMABAD: First-ever International Patient Safety Day was celebrated at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims) on Tuesday.

The day was celebrated to create awareness amongst the health officials regarding safety of patient during treatment.

Pims also organised an event in this regard in which Parliamentary Secretary for Health Nousheen Hamid, World Health Organization (WHO) Country Director Dr Palitha Gunarathna Mahipala, National Institute of Health (NIH) Director General Major General Amir Ikram, and Pims Executive Director Dr Ansar Maxood participated.

On the occasion, the health experts said some 134 million patients were affected by unsafe medical system annually while 2.6 of them died every year.

They added that adverse effect during treatment was tenth biggest reason for deaths and disability around the world. The experts pointed out that 25 per cent of surgical items in the hospitals were unsafe.

In her address, Nousheen Hamid said that now people fear going to hospitals due to lack of safety.  

Published in The Express Tribune, September 18^th, 2019.