Just when concerns are being raised about increasing incidents of violence against doctors, sometimes leading to grievous hurt or murder by the patients and their relatives, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has brought to the fore other side of the picture by stating that more than 138 million patients are harmed every year by doctors' errors.
On Tuesday, the WHO will celebrate the first World Patient Safety Day, with which it seeks to raise awareness of this ongoing tragedy. It said that globally, at least 5 patients die every minute because of unsafe care such as error in diagnosis, errors in medicine prescriptions and treatments, and the inappropriate use of drugs.
Errors in diagnosis, errors in medicine prescriptions and treatments, and the inappropriate use of drugs are the three main reasons why so many patients harmed, WHO patient-safety coordinator Dr. Neelam Dhingra-Kumar said.
Four out of every ten patients are harmed during primary and ambulatory health care. The most detrimental errors are related to diagnosis, prescription and the use of medicines. Medication errors alone cost an estimated US$ 42 billion annually. Unsafe surgical care procedures cause complications in up to 25% of patients resulting in 1 million deaths during or immediately after surgery annually.
In India, according to a study published in BMJ journal in 2018, safety of patients in tertiary care hospitals was found to be a big problem. "At least 62.9 per cent of unsafe injections are administered every year in India. Estimated risk of Hospital Care Associated Infections(HCAI) is up to 20 times higher than industrialised countries and is approx 10 per cent and 15-30 per cent in acute care. 77 per cent of all reported cases of counterfeit and substandard drugs are from developing countries," said the study.
In fact, according to the WHO, only errors related to erroneous medicine prescriptions cost healthcare systems around the world some $42 billion (37 billion euros).
"These mistakes occur because healthcare systems are not suitably designed to deal with these errors and learn from them," Dr Kumar said, while admitting that many medical facilities hide what they did wrong, which often keeps them from taking steps to make sure these mistakes are not repeated in the future.
Figures provided by the WHO refer only to countries with medium and low economic status (where 80 per cent of the global population live), so that the real number could be even greater, considering that even in developed countries, one out of every 10 patients is the victim of medical mistakes.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said that "we need a patient safety culture that promotes partnership with patients, encourages reporting and learning from errors, and creates a blame-free environment where health workers are empowered and trained to reduce errors."
Following demand from the medical fraternity, Union Health Ministry has proposed Healthcare Service Personnel and Clinical Establishments (Prohibition of Violence and Damage to Property) Bill 2019 that makes assault of medical professionals a criminal offence with imprisonment up to 10 years and fine extending up to Rs 5 lakh.
