Boost for patient safety as Health Minister chairs first WHO Centre meeting

Muscat: Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Sa’eedi, Minister of Health yesterday presided over the first meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Quality of Care and Patient Safety, in the presence of Dr. Rashid Al Abri, Head of the WHO-CC, as well as Dr. Qamrah Al Sariri, MoH Director General of Quality Assurance Centre.
The Minister of Health pointed out that this national centre that was officially announced at the Arab Health Ministries Meeting in December 2018, represents all health sectors in the Sultanate.
He added that the centre seeks to upgrade quality and patient’s safety at the national, regional and international levels.
He also affirmed that designating the Sultanate as a WHO collaborating centre granted upon demonstrating a significant progress in the field of Quality over the years, in addition to its continuous collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean particularly in developing and implementing patient safety tools, such as “Safe Surgery Saves Life,” “Clean Care Safer Care,” “Patient Engagement and Empowerment for Patient Safety,” and “Reporting and Learning Systems for Safer Care,” as well as in operational research on patient safety and quality.
The Collaborating Centre will focus on five main tasks underlined in the provision of the needed resources, professional development and training, preparation of policies and strategies, integrating patient safety teaching within the health institutes’ curricula, along with conducting patient safety research
and studies.
In light of this, a ministerial decision was issued to form a permanent committee to coordinate the work of the WHO Collaborating Centre in the field of quality and patient safety. Dr. Al Abri affirmed that this centre will have representatives from all health sectors in the Sultanate The Collaborating Centre aims at implementing several themes, in cooperation with the WHO.
Moreover, the WHO Collaborating Centre aims to integrate patient safety and quality objectives into health policies and strategies, as well as supporting WHO Regional Member States, in collaboration with the WHO.
In addition, the centre inspires to integrate the teaching of patient safety and quality in the curriculum of academic health institutions. It encourages conducting research on patient safety and quality, as well as leading joint research with collaborating centres and NGOs, which results could be used in the development of patient safety and quality management system globally, as well as standardization and monitoring of quality and patient safety activities. -ONA