Saudi Arabia to set a global benchmark in patient safety

The Saudi Ministry of Health launched an application aimed at reducing diagnostic errors and enhancing patient safety yesterday, Arab News reported. This was revealed by Saudi Health Minister Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan Al Rabiah in his speech on the Fourth Global Ministerial Patient Safety Summit, which opened at the Ritz Carlton on Saturday under the patronage of King Salman. The application, called “Med Consult,” was launched in collaboration with the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSRelief ) and the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to Al Rabiah, who extended the King’s warm greetings to the participants, the app is one of the important outcomes of the summit. “It is an application for medical consultations through which health practitioners in low and middle-income countries and consultants from around the world can visually communicate and share experiences,” the Saudi minister said. Al Rabiah added that the Jeddah Declaration on Patient Safety would also be launched at the end of the summit.

“We hope that this declaration could be a continuation of our efforts to promote patient safety internationally and a practical tool to improve safety in health sector. He added that the Kingdom has taken great strides in improving health care and enhancing patient safety. “This is also a key health component of the National Transformation Programme, which will help us achieve our Vision 2030 goals,” he said.

For his part, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the UK and former health secretary Jeremy Hunt reviewed the most important patient safety issues in his country. Hunt cited a number of heartbreaking stories of patients who had suffered due to medical errors.

He highlighted how his former ministry learnt from those experiences to prevent the further occurrence of such life-threatening errors. “British health practitioners are now aware enough to avoid medical errors and consider the safety of their patients,” Hunt said.