Medical errors under the spotlight at key forum in Riyadh

Eliminating medical errors will be the main focus of the Fourth Medicine and Law Forum, which has been set for March 26-28 in Riyadh under the slogan “Know Your Rights.” A number of well-known speakers from both medicine and law are scheduled to attend the event.

The three-day forum will take place in Sultan bin Abdulaziz Humanitarian City in Riyadh and organized by the Saudi Law Training Center (SLTC) supported by Health Minister Tawfiq Al-Rabiah and a strategic partnership between Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud Foundation and Saudi Patient Safety Center (SPSC).

A press conference on Sunday announcing the date of the forum was attended by Abdulelah Hawsawi, director general of SPSC, and Majed Qaroob, president of the SLTC.
The forum aims to raise the level of awareness about the culture of human rights for all beneficiaries of the medical sector in the Kingdom and to highlight the social and legal conditions of women working in the medical sector.

Hawsawi said in a statement: “The forum will focus on the patients and their families to ensure their safety. Saudi Patient Safety Center will also use the local and international bodies with expertise in the field to support the safety of patients.”

Many important issues will be discussed, such as the rights and duties of a health practitioner, patient rights, pharmaceutical companies, social responsibility in this vital sector, medical errors and the relationship between medicine and law.

The forum focuses most on eliminating medical errors and the damage resulting from them in the Saudi health system.
Talking to Arab News, Hawsawi stressed the need for maintaining a proper record of medical errors in the Kingdom with details of the hospital involved in the case.

“On a national level, we are supposed to have a system to maintain a record of medical errors. However, we are working on building a center for this in which each hospital should participate.”
Qaroob urged all those people who have been the victims of medical errors to share their experiences with others so as to help raise awareness about dealing with such situations.