Riyadh: The number of medical errors in Saudi Arabia has reached more than 25,000 in five years, according to figures released during a forum in Madinah recently.
The forum brought together a number of Muslim scholars, senior officials from the Saudi Ministry of Health, doctors and media men.
Experts in medicine, Sharia and media underlined the need for clear legislations that fairly grants victims their rights and did not discourage people from taking medicine as a profession.
An earlier statement from the Saudi Ministry of Health said the number of medical errors reported in 2009 had reached 670. As medical errors are at an alarming level, some health institutions are considering some options to tackle the issue.
For instance, while marking the Information Technology Day in November, the Riyadh-based Khaled University Hospital (KKUH), stressed that preventing medical errors and improving patient safety are among the most important potential advantages of adopting IT in health care.
The undersecretary of the ministry of health for planning, development and quality, Dr. Mohammad Khushayem, said the vast developments witnessed by medicine in the past 25 years have contributed to the rise of medical errors.
He pointed out that applying quality standards is the solution for reducing medical errors.
Dr. Abdul Aziz Al Sayegh, secretary-general of the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties, said his commission is concerned with scrutiny of certificates of all health practioners coming to work in Saudi Arabia.
He stressed on the importance of hiring qualified health cadres in order to eliminate medical errors.
He disclosed that forgery in health certicates is not much, adding that among 300,000 health practioners in Saudi Arabia, only 70 cases of forgery were discovered and the fraudsters were deported to their respective countries.
