WHO mission in Pakistan to help transform hospitals into patient-safety-friendly facilities

KARACHI: On the request of federal health ministry, a seven-member mission of World Health Organization (WHO) has arrived in Pakistan to assist and support the country's federal and provincial health departments to develop National Quality Policy and Strategy (NQPS) and transform a few of public and private health facilities into patient-safety friendly hospitals through WHO’s flagship Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative (PSFHI), health authorities said on Tuesday.

“On our request, a joint mission of WHO and the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) of the WHO comprising seven international experts has arrived on a five-day visit to help us on patient safety strategy issues and to transform our facilities into patient safety friendly hospitals,” said Dr. Zafar Mirza, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health while talking to The News.

Ministry of National Health Services, Regulations and Coordination officials said the WHO mission is comprised of WHO Regional Advisor Dr. Letaief Mondher, Dr. Jamal Nasher, Dr. Zulfiqar Khan, Dr. Bassim Zayed, Dr. Donna Forsyth from National Health Services England, Dr. Mathew Neilsen and Ms Afifa Baloch. The international mission is tasked with identifying gaps of quality, patient safety and Infection Prevention Control (IPC) within the healthcare system of Pakistan.

“The joint WHO mission has been requested to visit six major hospitals in Pakistan which includes PIMS and Shifa International Hospital Islamabad in the capital, Lahore General Hospital and Shaukat Khanum Memorial Hospital in Lahore and Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Center (JPMC) and Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) in Karachi,” an official of the federal health ministry said while explaining details of scheduled engagements of the mission. These experts, he added, would also be holding meetings with federal and provincial health authorities before presenting their proposals to the government of Pakistan.

Special Assistant to the PM Dr. Mirza said the international team of experts would be meeting with local and as well as international agencies' health officials in Pakistan and provide full technical support to the country for launching its flagship Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative at the selected hospitals in the federal capital and provincial headquarters.

Health authorities said they were pushed to invite international expertise for Infection Prevention Control (IPC) and patient safety after several leading international health experts associated with WHO, UNAIDS and UN’s other health agencies warned of more Larkana-like HIV outbreaks in other parts of the country if immediate measures were not adopted for patient safety, infection control, safe disposal of hospital waste, training of healthcare providers and awareness of masses regarding infectious diseases.

“We are facing huge health challenges ranging from HIV outbreaks to having largest number of viral hepatitis patients in the world. Anti Microbial Resistance (AMR) and Extensively Drug Resistant Typhoid, growing incidence of Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) Tuberculosis, numerous water-borne diseases as well high incidence of non-communicable diseases including diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and hypertension are also causes of immense worry for us,” the NHS official conceded.

Health authorities said they were also seeking the support of local health experts from public and private health varsities and institutions in transforming major hospitals into patient friendly facilities while cooperation of provincial governments was also being sought to prevent future incidents like HIV outbreak in Sindh.

“I’m hopefully holding a presser with the members of WHO mission in Islamabad in a few days when the mission completes its investigation”, Dr. Zafar Mirza said.