Srinagar, Oct 13: In a shocking revelation, around 52 lakh injuries to patients occur annually in India due to medical errors. The figures, cited by the National Medical Commission (NMC), draw attention to the lacunae in ensuring preventable causes of patient injury are addressed. The Commission has now directed medical colleges and healthcare institutions across the country, including those in J&K, to improve the patient safety measures.
The healthcare establishments and medical colleges will need to establish patient safety committees and designate nodal officers to monitor and prevent avoidable harm to patients. The estimated 52 lakh injuries include medication errors and hospital-acquired infections.
The move assumes particular significance for J&K, where earlier hospital-based studies have documented preventable adverse events and medication-related harms. However, a consolidated estimate of injuries attributable to medical errors across J&K remains unavailable in the public domain.
The directive for instituting committees was issued through a public notice on October 8. It follows a May 8 communication from the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), Ministry of Health and Family Welfare that has asked medical colleges and hospitals to institutionalise patient safety mechanisms. The directions have also been issued to Government Medical Colleges (GMCs) and their associated hospitals in J&K. The proposed committees would provide a framework for monitoring patient safety practices and reviewing protocols across clinical departments.
The proposed committees are expected to oversee the implementation, monitoring and periodic review of patient safety practices. The objective is improving health outcomes, reducing avoidable treatment-related costs and strengthening public trust in healthcare services.
Earlier research from Kashmir has also highlighted the problem of harm caused to patients in healthcare settings. A study based on incident reports from a tertiary-care hospital in 2016 examined 253 adverse events. It found that a significant proportion – 39% of these were preventable. Another study involving 5,482 patients at a Srinagar tertiary-care hospital documented adverse drug reactions in 6.23 per cent of those studied. The researchers assessed that a whopping 81.57 per cent of the identified reactions as preventable.
These findings are limited to individual hospital settings. The overall burden of medical errors across J&K is yet to be estimated, and the lacunae underlines the importance of systematic reporting, investigation and prevention of adverse events.
Under the NMC directions, the patient safety committees must cover areas including medication safety, surgical safety, blood transfusion safety, medical device safety, laboratory and diagnostic safety. In addition they will also assess scope for infection prevention and control, healthcare-associated infections and the growing concern of antimicrobial resistance.
Committees will also be constituted to monitor biomedical waste management, fire safety, structural safety and environmental safety.
Each medical college and its associated hospital has been asked to designate a Patient Safety Nodal Officer with sufficient seniority.
The committee is to be chaired by the Director, Head of Institution or Medical Superintendent. These must include representatives from the identified patient safety domains. The committees are also expected to facilitate the reporting and review of patient safety incidents and identify underlying causes. The committees must arrive at support corrective measures to ensure reduction in such cases.
