QATAR – Qatar’s Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) is set to launch a national medication safety programme as part of the government’s efforts to promote medication safety in the country.
The national medication safety programme is designed to identify priorities and gaps concerning medication safety systems and practices, according to the Ministry of Public Health.
It is based on four pillars, putting an emphasis on patients and the public, healthcare workers, dealing with medicines as products as well as systems and practices.
In an official note, the MoPH said: “The programme aims to develop interventions and improvements at every stage of the medication use process to ensure that the medication safety principles are applied at the heart of its business in all public and private healthcare facilities.”
To this end, the Ministry of Public Health has involved significant stakeholders in the national medication safety programme development process.
It drew the participation of high-level officials of the MoPH, the World Health Organization Office in Qatar, the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, key stakeholders in the health, academic, and pharmaceutical manufacturing sectors, alongside patient representatives.
The national medication safety programme is being rolled out in several phases, including a set of planned procedures, the national policy, and the action plan to be developed to ensure medication safety in Qatar.
Furthermore, the national plan for a medication safety programme is one of the key projects within the second national health strategy for the period between 2018 and 2022, and it is the third national health strategy.
“The first phase of the programme was implemented from April to June this year by performing situation analysis to medication safety in Qatar,” stated the Ministry of Public Health.
As part of this program implementation process, the Ministry of Public Health has finished conducting a thorough situation analysis of medication safety in the State of Qatar.
The nationwide analysis was based on evidence-based data from representatives affiliated with departments of the Ministry of Public Health.
The representatives were selected from various MoPH departments including Healthcare Quality, Pharmacy and Drug Control, Healthcare Professions, Healthcare Facilities, E-health, Financing and Health Insurance, Strategic Planning, Performance, and Innovation.
The healthcare practitioners sought to adopt a list of priorities, identify gaps and challenges, as well as propose strategies and related essential interventions concerning medication safety in the State of Qatar.
Thus, the national medication safety programme is being launched in various phases with the aim of developing a national plan for a medication safety programme.
“The next steps in the national medication safety programme are to develop a national medication safety policy and action plan according to the proposed priorities and interventions,” announced MoPH.
These structural moves are in line with the proposed objectives of the National Development Strategy for the period between 2023 and 2030, the National Health Strategy (2023-2030), and the Global Action Plan on Patient Safety.
Hence, the successes of the national medication safety programme will build on the World Health Organisation’s strategic objectives of its third Global Patient Safety Challenge, Medication Without Harm.
In March 2017, the World Health Organization launched its third Global Patient Safety Challenge with the ambitious goal of reducing avoidable medication-related harm by 50% worldwide over the next 5 years.
Commenting on the significance of the Medication Without Harm challenge, MoHP outlined: “These kinds of programs are essentially change-driven programs aimed at introducing improvements and reducing risks in health systems.”
The third WHO Global Patient Safety Challenge, Medication Without Harm, will propose solutions to address many of the obstacles the world faces today to ensure the safety of medication practices.
WHO’s primary goal is to achieve widespread engagement and commitment of WHO Member States and professional bodies around the world to reduce the harm associated with medication.
Consequently, Qatar has pledged to participate in the implementation of WHO’s third Global Patient Safety Challenge by signing the pledge document with the World Health Organisation.
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