World Patient Safety Day was launched globally to raise awareness of the need to establish patient safety as a global health priority.
In Dhaka, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and WHO Bangladesh inaugurated the first World Patient Safety Day through an event which called for solidarity among all stakeholders on patient safety in Bangladesh. The event was attended by professional associations of clinical disciplines, academicians, health policy makers, health managers from public and private health sectors.
Worldwide, adverse events occur in around 10% of hospital patients. Individual studies have reported adverse events from 4–17% of hospital admissions and 5–21% of these adverse events result in death. Evidence also suggests that half of these can be prevented.
Addressing the event, WHO Representative to Bangladesh, Dr. Bardan Jung Rana, encouraged the Government to strengthen patient safety systems and procedures, in line with the Regional Strategy on Patient Safety, towards avoiding unnecessary or potential harm associated with health care.
Participants emphasized the need to incorporate in the curriculum of medical education system of Bangladesh patient safety and compliance of standard procedures for prevention of the occurrence of adverse events due to unsafe care.
Furthermore, experts expressed the need for stringent application of standard health care practices that could avoid unnecessary events during health care at all levels of care in Bangladesh. However further research is needed on patient safety for better understanding the gaps in different areas of health facilities and practices.
WHO remains committed in supporting the Government of Bangladesh to provide health services of high quality, safe for the service providers as well as for recipients, as this is a core element towards achieving universal health coverage.