Posted on: Mon 17-07-2017

In spite of the numerous provisions in the National Health Act on the need and expediency of patient safety and healthcare systems quality assurance in all the aspects and levels of healthcare delivery services and interventions in Nigeria, and notwithstanding the global declarations, policies and pronouncements by the World Health Organization and several other bodies involved in health promotion and advancement globally, the health policy makers and administrators in Nigeria, until the advent of the incumbent government and administration in the Federal Ministry of Health, paid little or no attention to the phenomena in pragmatic terms despite the huge investments in rhetoric, slogans and tomfooleries aimed at creating an apparition of seriousness. 

As a result, relevant interventions in terms of research; surveys and assessments, policy making; programme development, planning and implementation; monitoring and evaluation; programme reporting; global linkages for information and knowledge sharing; and accessing international technical assistance and resources for improving patient safety and healthcare systems quality assurance in our healthcare systems, either remained unborn, still-born, hibernated or in coma, even when they are well theorized and documented in some extant health documents that were mostly shelved. It is therefore not far-fetched as to why there is no credible or plausible empirical, or even anecdotal, data or evidence to establish the exact degree and magnitude of the wreckage that the Nigerian healthcare systems has suffered consequent upon the deliberate foot-dragging in implementing both the local and local policies and programmes that are meant to improve patient safety and healthcare systems quality assurance in our country, Nigeria.  

As it is expected and known in all human societies, situations and sectors where an apparition, a ruse, a farce, a mockery, a sham, a pretense,  a deception, a façade, a caricature, a cartoon, a distortion,  and a duplicity are exchanged for truth, determination and pragmatism, incidences and adverse events and consequences always abound.

In this circumstance, the adverse events and consequences are often seen in form of: surgery performed on the wrong body part; surgery performed on the wrong patient; wrong surgical procedure performed on a patient; unintended retention of foreign object in a patient after surgery or procedure; intra-operative or immediately post-operative death; patient death or serious disability associated with the use of contaminated   drugs, devices, or biologics provided by the health care facility; patient death or serious disability associated with use or function of a device in patient care in which the device is used or functions other than as intended; patient death or serious disability associated with intravascular air embolism (blood vessels air trapping) that occurs while being cared for in a health care facility; infant discharged to the wrong person; patient death or serious disability associated with patient elopement; patient suicide, or attempted suicide resulting in serious disability while being cared for in a health care facility; patient death or serious disability associated with a medication error; patient death or serious disability associated with a hemolytic (blood cells breakdown) reaction due to administration of incompatible blood or blood products; maternal death or serious disability associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy while being cared for in a health care facility; patient death or serious disability associated with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar level), the onset of which occurs while patient is cared for in a health care facility; death or serious disability associated with failure to identify and treat hyperbilirubinemia (high level of bilirubin the blood) in neonates; stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers acquired after admission to a health care facility; patient death or serious disability due to spinal manipulative therapy; artificial insemination with the wrong donor sperm or wrong egg; patient death or serious disability associated with an electric shock while being cared for in a health care facility; incidences resulting from the use of  a line designated for oxygen or other gas to be delivered to a patient but which contains the wrong gas or is contaminated by toxic substances; patient death or serious disability associated with a burn incurred from any source while being cared for in a health care facility; patient death or serious disability associated with fall or slip while cared for in a health care facility; patient death or serious disability associated with the use of restraints or bedrails while being cared for in a health care facility; care provided by someone impersonating a health care provider; abduction of a patient of any age; sexual assault on a patient within or on the grounds of a health care facility; and death or significant injury resulting from a physical assault that occurs within or on the grounds of the facility.

Healthcare workers also suffer all forms of occupational hazards and injuries (including exposure to infectious organisms and dangerous agents) as well as falls, slips, Fatigue and exhaustion, Sleep deprivation, depression, etc, as a result of poor or nil patient safety and healthcare systems quality assurance culture.

That was then. The incumbent administration in the Federal Ministry of Health, under the leadership of Professor Isaac Adewole, realizing the importance, significance and urgency of patient safety and healthcare systems quality assurance in our healthcare systems, has, in consonance with the provisions in the National Health Act and the World Health Organization and several other bodies involved in health promotion and advancement globally, made an unprecedented stride in ensuring that, in all the Nigerian hospitals, the highest possible attention is given to universal safety precautions; post exposure prophylaxis; hospital infection control; injection safety; nursing procedures safety and quality assurance; medical procedures safety and quality assurance; surgical procedures safety and quality assurance; maternal, neonatal and child health safety and quality assurance; radiology/Radionuclear safety and quality assurance; medical laboratory safety and quality assurance; health equipments safety and quality assurance; healthcare waste management safety; hospital laundry safety and quality assurance; healthcare workers safety and quality assurance; food/nutrition safety and quality assurance; ambulance safety and quality assurance; pharmaceutical products safety and quality assurance; water safety and quality assurance; drips safety and quality assurance; immunization safety and quality assurance; prosthesis safety and quality assurance; dental procedures safety and quality assurance; ophthalmology procedure safety and quality assurance; physiotherapy procedures safety and quality assurance; ear, nose and throat (ENT) procedures safety and quality assurance; orthopaedic procedures safety and quality assurance; physically challenged patients procedures safety and quality assurance; mental health patients safety and quality assurance; neurological procedures safety and quality assurance; sexual and reproductive health interventions safety and quality assurance; pathological procedures safety and quality assurance; and all other healthcare interventions or programmes, even at the community level in Nigeria.

Suffice it to posit, therefore, that this level of commitment to safety and quality assurance within the Nigerian healthcare systems is unprecedented and commendable. It is undoubtedly aimed at ensuring not only the full recovery of our healthcare systems but also position our healthcare systems for a leadership role on the continent of Africa, as it is meant to ensure safety and quality in healthcare delivery by ensuring that patients get the care they need; patients need the care they get; healthcare is delivered safely; healthcare is delivered on time; healthcare is patient-centred; healthcare workers perform optimally and safely; and healthcare is equitable and qualitative to all categories of patients, irrespective of the inherent inequality that is often fuelled by poverty of many patients and the lack of infrastructure to meet the needs of the disadvantaged patients. 

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