FG Moves To Reduce Medication-Related Harm

Dr Osagie Ehanire, the Minister of Health has said that strategies had been put in place in order to reduce severe preventable medication-related harm by 50 per cent in the next five years.

He disclosed this in Abuja on Monday at a news conference to commemorate the 2022 World Patient Safety Day. 

 Adebimpe Adebiyi, the Director of Hospital Services, Ministry of Health, who represented Ehanire noted that the day is marked annually on Sept. 17.

 “Every one of us at some point has used medicines for the treatment of illnesses. The benefits of drugs and medications cannot be overemphasized.

"However, medications can sometimes cause serious harm if not used correctly either as a result of miscommunication between the patient or healthcare giver.

“Other issues are error in prescriptions, poor monitoring of a patient on medication, misuse of antibiotics which can result in antimicrobial resistance, confusion in dispensing look alike and sound alike drugs,’’ he said.

According to Ehanire, the reduction would be by making improvements at each stage of the medication process, including prescribing, dispensing, administering, monitoring and use, as he mentioned that underreporting of medication errors is also an issue.

“A study conducted by Ogunleye et al on medication errors amongst health care professionals in 10 tertiary hospitals across the country shows 35.5 per cent of 2386 professionals that participated in this study reported medication error.

“While 33.4 per cent did not think reporting was necessary,’’ he said.

He added that the incidence of medication errors was somewhat high and the majority of identified errors were related to the prescription of incorrect antiretroviral therapy (ART) regimens and potential drug-drug interactions.

He said 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,’’ he said.

He disclosed that Nigeria was 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.”

He added that the policy focuses on improving medication safety, surgical safety, and safety of all medical procedures among others.

“Sensitisation and capacity are ongoing in our Federal Tertiary Health Institutions in the form of training on medication safety, infection prevention control, and other aspects of patient safety,’’ Ehanire said.