A Shoura Council decision taken last year to set up an independent commission to ensure the safety of patients and the proper conduct of health professionals has not been enacted by the Ministry of Health, said a Shoura member. The commission, envisioned by the council's approval, for quality in health services would set out specific criteria for the way patients have to be treated. It would also have to ensure that all health facilities comply with the new regulations. Previously, Dr. Mohsin Bin Faris Al-Hazmi, a member of the Environmental Health Committee in the Shoura Council, had called on the Ministry of Health to implement the decision by setting up the commission to check on all health facilities across the Kingdom. He hoped that the commission starting working to lay down regulations on job procedures at health institutions, and professional health care and medical ethics for workers. It would also be required to ensure implementation of the latest trends in the programs of the International Federation for Patients' Safety - particularly in the field of surgery, critical care and research. Al-Hazmi said the dossier for countering negative practices of health administrations and medical professionals incidents was discussed at the recent Arab and Gulf Conference for Quality and Safety of Health Care. He pointed out that the conference aimed to develop recommendations to guarantee quality in health care in the Gulf region. He added that the Saudi authorities have taken a number of measures to ensure the safety of patients and to reduce medical errors. This includes a law making it compulsory to insure doctors against medical errors. Other measures include establishing the Saudi Health Specializations Commission, the Saudi Food and Drug Authority, and controls for conducting unusual surgeries. The Ministry of Health's report of 2009 found 129 health professionals guilty of deadly medical errors. A total of 130 were cleared of any wrongdoing. There was a total of 1,356 complaints brought before the various medical commissions. Al-Hazmi pointed out that Jeddah registered the biggest number of complaints of medical errors at 287, followed by Riyadh with 280 cases, while Al-Ahsa registered the lowest number of complaints with 46. On his part, Dr. Tawfiq Bin Ahmed Khoja, Director General of the Executive Office for the Council of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministers of Health, said the recent survey studies carried out in the Kingdom confirmed that the percentage of medical errors that took place during child delivery was 27 percent, operations at 17 percent, in internal medicine at 13 percent, and on children at 10 percent.
