Untimely deaths: MD tasks doctors, health workers on patient safety

Untimely deaths: MD tasks doctors, health workers on patient safety
NAN-HG-2
Patients
By Awayi Kuje
Keffi (Nasarawa State), Jan. 31, 2018 (NAN) Dr Joshua Giyan, the Medical Director, Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Keffi, Nasarawa State, has tasked doctors and other health workers to ensure patients safety to avoid untimely deaths.
Giyan gave the task while presenting a paper on: ““Patient Safety, Every Patient Counts”, at the three-day Patient Safety Conference organised by the centre in Keffi, Keffi Local Government Area, of the state.
He urged doctors and healthcare workers to always develop patients’ safety culture by avoiding mistakes or errors while discharging their duties.
“Lots of patients have been affected in the country over negligence on the part of the medical and health workers,’’ said the medical director.
Giyan also advised them to always respect and protect the rights of patients in order to improve on their health status.
“The right of the patients also need to be protected at all the time in order to avoid untimely deaths, because patients are kings in every health sector,
“and a healthy person can become a patient one day, but that is not our prayers.
“The management had done its best in infrastructure, and personnel development, among others, and all that will not matter if safety of patients is not improved or is not taken in to cognisance.
“That is why we are giving it a very strong thought and with the help of Global Health to ensure that the staff are really motivated on patient safety,” he said.
Giyan expressed optmism that after the programme, the FMC staff would be motivated to be able to identify of the loopholes of patients safety that they have been missing in the past.
The medical director restated his commitment to continue to key in to positive health programmes and policies that have direct bearing on the lives of patients and staff of the centre and Nigeria at large.
The Dean, Rova College of HealthCare Executives, Abuja, Mr Emmanuel Abolo, said that the conference would lay a foundation on the need for health workers to respect patients’ safety while discharging their duties.
He added that there is now overwhelming evidence that significant numbers of patients are harmed from their healthcare either resulting in permanent injury, increased Length of Stay (LOS) in hospital and even death.
The dean charged healthcare service practitioners to always take the safety of patients as topmost priority.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the workshop was organised for the centre’s doctors and other health workers. (NAN)
AKW/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola