The ultimate goal of health care facilities is to ensure healthy psychological and social conditions for the patients. But all forms of intervention by modern technical, medical and human resources can also have negative consequences. Such incidents can cause potential damage that can be avoided if safety measures are taken. These observations were made by the Director General of the Executive Board of the GCC Health Ministers Council, Dr. Tawfik Khoja at the Arab and Gulf Health Care Quality and Safety Conference here Wednesday. Experts from all across the region and UK and US attended the conference, which was launched under the patronage of Prince Khaled Al-Faisal, Emir of Makkah Region. Presenting her papers, Jeannell Mansur said that with the release of the landmark publication “To Err is Human” by the Institute of Medicine in 1999, health care authorities have become aware of the harm to patients occurring in health care organizations as a result of the failure of systems and processes. “This wake-up call has created an awareness of issues relating to patient safety and, more specifically, medication safety,” Mansur said. She said that regulatory organizations, including the Joint Commission and Joint Commission International, have revised standards and requirements for health care organizations to support safe practices and proactive risk reduction strategic planning. Khoja said that the conference was part of the efforts of the Arab and Gulf ministers to enhance safety measures since safety is one of most important mechanisms to improve modern health systems.
