Govt commits to patient safety

Mukudzei Chingwere in Montreux, Switzerland

Patient safety is a key tenant in healthcare provision and Zimbabwe will continue to erect necessary framework and measures to guarantee safety as well as give the best hospital experience to its populace, Vice President and Minister of Health and Child Care Dr Constantino Chiwenga has said.

VP Chiwenga said this on arrival here where will join global health leaders at the 5th edition of the Patient Safety Global Ministerial Summit.

He was received at the Geneva Airport by Zimbabwe’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other international organisations based in Geneva, Ambassador Stuart Comberbach.

Global health leaders are converging in the resort Swiss City of Montreux for the first patient safety summit since the onset of Covid-19 which by and large exposed the fragility of patient safety in health facilities both in the developed and developing world.

World Health Organisation (WHO) statistics show that at least one in 10 hospitalised patients end up experiencing harm or getting secondary infection having checked into a health facility.

At least 50 percent of these secondary mishaps or infections, notes WHO statistics, are preventable and global health leaders gathered here are sharing experiences on how to end this scourge.

Zimbabwe, which is pacing up towards universal health coverage of sufficient quality commensurate with an upper middle-income economy by 2030 as envisioned by President Mnangagwa, subscribes to the notion of zero harm and zero secondary infection at its hospitals.

VP Chiwenga said there was more to health delivery than just treating the primary ailment that would have brought a patient to a hospital in the first place.

“We have come here to share ideas and discuss on patient safety in our hospitals, and in our medical facilities,” said VP Chiwenga. “It is not only treating the patient or somebody ill, but also look after the safety of that particular individual.

“When they leave, they must leave in good health and that whatever their medication they are getting, are they getting it correctly and is their safety being guaranteed.

“We will be discussing quite a number of other issues with the World Health Organisation and I will be discussing other issues with global funders, GAVI in particular. So, it will be a number of organisations, I will be discussing with under the United Nations umbrella to do with health.” 

Speaking ahead of the summit, Switzerland President Alain Berset said patient safety was an urgent global public health issue which needs all hands on the deck if the world was to succeed in guaranteeing safety.

“Although much progress has already been achieved, for example with the adoption of WHO’s Global Patient Safety Action Plan or the Global Ministerial Summit Series, it remains essential to continue the global effort,” said President Berset. “Switzerland is honoured to host the 5th Global Ministerial Summit and we are committed to address the key challenges of ensuring sustainable implementation, according to the slogan — Less harm, better care — from resolution to implementation.” 

Zimbabwe’s invitation to attend the summit came from President Berset, who assumed the rotational Swiss presidency in January on the back of Zimbabwe having gotten international commendation for the manner in which it is managing its health services.

President Berset is also keen to see the stepping up of economic cooperation between Zimbabwe and Switzerland and VP Chiwenga has been fixtured for economic cooperation engagements with Government officials as well as private investors.