The Federal Government has revealed that it has put plans in place to reduce severe preventable medication related harms by 50 percent over the subsequent years. The Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Enihare made this known at the conference set for the commemoration of the 2022 World Patient Safety Day. Representing the Minister of Health, Mrs. Adebimpe Adebiyi, the Director of Hospital Service, the Ministry of Education, revealed her happiness at the fact the event was held annually.
Adebiyi said that everyone, at one point or another, have used medicines for treatment of an illness and while the importance of these medications cannot be over emphasized, these medications sometimes pose immense harm to the health system if not used correctly, either as a result of the miscommunication between the patients and health practitioners, prescription errors, poor monitoring of patients, confusion with look-alike drugs and antibiotics misuse which can lead to antimicrobial resistance.
Improvements in all medication practice stages to reduce errors.
Enihare noted that this reduction would be possible if improvements are made at all stages of the medication process like prescribing, dispensing, administrating, monitoring and usage. He admitted that the underreporting of medication symptoms has also been an immense challenge. Referencing the recent study on medication errors amongst health care professionals across tertiary hospitals in the country by the Ogunleye et al study, he noted that 35 percent of 2386 participating professionals reported a medication error whilst another 33.4 percent did not think these errors necessary. The Minister also asserted that the increased incident of major medication errors as related to the prescription of incorrect Antiretroviral therapy and protocols in the country’s HIV treatment program had been reported in the past.
These medication errors were not restricted to medical and surgical services alone, but also in some medical laboratories. He noted that the Federal Government had plans in place for the development of its National Policy and Strategy on Patient Safety and Quality Care which he hoped would be completed this year and deployed to all health facilities immediately. This policy, Enihare said, would focus on the improvement of medication safety, surgical safety, as well as safety among all medical procedures. The Minister however said that sensitization was ongoing in various forms of trainings on medical safety, infection prevention control and the other aspects of patient’s safety.
Weak medication system and human factors responsible for unsafe practices.
Dr. Walter Mulombo, the World Health Organization’s (WHO) representative to Nigeria noted that the weakness in the medication system was mostly responsible for medication errors and further aggravated by a lack of adequately trained professionals. He also blamed the poor working conditions as a major factor that has affected the delivery of quality care. Represented by WHO’s Deputy Country Representative, Dr. Alex Chimbaru asserted that through inappropriate prescription, dispensing, administration and monitoring practices, the rights of patients to medication without any form of prejudice could be compromised.
The weak medication system and human factors are the major contributing entities of unsafe practices, noting that many countries lack the capacity to detect, evaluate and prevent medication safety issues. He further regarded fatigue, inadequacy of knowledge and training, workplace distractions, shortage of professionals, and limited resources as other contributory factors that have led to medication errors. Lauding Nigeria’s efforts towards always updating its essential medicine list, he stated that the process of integrating WHO Aware Classification of Antibiotics was underway.
WHO partners with NAFDAC to conduct survey on SF medical products.
On the revitalization process, Malombo asserted that the 2005 National Drug Policy had been re-evaluated and revised in 2021, containing policy directions, prescription and medicine dispensing. He suggested that the country, by developing a guideline on prescription and dispensing of medical products, would aid the safety and audit of the professional practice. He also revealed that WHO was partnering with NAFDAC to conduct insight surveys on Substandard and Falsified (SF)medical products which would strengthen the SF risk communication.
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