The federal government has disclosed that it is set to reduce severe medication harm by 50 per cent in 5 years by advocating for safer medication practices as well as calling on relevant stakeholders to work together to achieve the goal of “Medication Without Harm”.
It further said underreporting of medication errors is also an issue as a study conducted on medication errors amongst health care professionals such as doctors, nurses, and pharmacists in 10 tertiary hospitals across the country showed 35.5% of 2386 professionals that participated in this study reported medication error, while 33.4% did not think reporting was necessary.
The minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire at a press briefing to commemorate the 2022 World Patient Safety Day in Abuja said the goal of medication safety is to reduce severe and preventable medication-related harm by 50% in the next 5 years specifically by addressing harm resulting from errors or unsafe practices in the health system.
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- FG to reduce severe medication harm by 50 per cent in 5 years
- FG to reduce severe medication harm by 50 per cent in 5 years
Ehanire, therefore, said this can be achieved by making improvements at each stage of the medication process, including prescribing, dispensing, administering, monitoring and use.
Ehanire who was represented by the director of hospital services, Dr Adebimpe Adebiyi explained that a high incidence of major medication errors related to the prescription of incorrect antiretroviral therapy (ART), protocols, a potential drug-to-drug interaction in Nigeria’s HIV treatment programme have been reported in the past.
According to him, “the incidence rate of medication errors was somewhat high, and a majority of identified errors were related to prescription of incorrect ART regimens and potential drug-drug interactions as the prescriber was contacted, and the errors were resolved in the majority of cases.
“Active screening for medication errors is feasible in resource-limited settings following adequate capacity building.
“Patients and members of the public are sometimes passive while receiving drug treatment. Most patients especially those on long-term medications for chronic illnesses such as hypertension, diabetes, etc. are not aware of the medications prescribed for them. Some patients abuse medications such as antibiotics which can create problems of antimicrobial resistance.
“Polypharmacy which is the routine use of four or more over-the-counter, prescription and/or traditional medications at the same time by a patient can also cause harm from multi-drug interactions and increase the side effects of drugs. Miscommunications can also occur when patients’ drugs are not properly handed over either during a change in shifts or transfer of care from one health facility to another.”
He said: “Moving on from medication error, we have seen quite a number of surgical errors which include but are not limited to operations on the wrong side, ligation of Ureters during hysterectomy, including stories of how surgical instruments, sponges and needles were left inside a patient. We have seen cases where the wrong patient was wheeled into the operating room because they were bearing similar names etc.
“Errors are not limited to medical or surgical services alone, some errors have also been recorded in our laboratories.”
Ehanire disclosed that Nigeria is already working to develop its national policy and strategy on patient safety and quality of care.
“We are hoping it will be completed and launched this year so that it can be deployed for use in all our health facilities at all levels of care.”
Meanwhile, the World Health Organisation country representative, Dr Walter Kazadi Mulombo represented by Alex Chibangu posited that medication errors occur most commonly due to weaknesses in medication systems, and are aggravated by shortages of well-trained health staff, and poor working and environmental conditions for delivery of quality health care.
He said, consequently, patients’ rights to medication without prejudice can be compromised through inappropriate prescribing, transcribing, dispensing, administration and monitoring practices.
According to him: “Global estimates show that medication errors contribute to over 3 million deaths every year, a situation which has been exacerbated by overwhelmed health systems during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“About one in every four cases of preventable medication harm is clinically severe, or life-threatening.”
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