The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on governments to address challenges pausing threats to the safety of health workers and patients.
In a statement released by the organization as the global community commemorates the “World Patient Safety day” which falls on September 17, WHO Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, expressed the need for the countries to prioritise safety measures for both health workers and patients.
Reads part of the statement: “No country, hospital or clinic can keep its patients safe unless it keeps its health workers safe”.
in his statement, Dr Ghebreyesus also mentioned that Covid-19 pandemic has revealed a big picture of a critical role health workers play in relieving suffering and saving lives.
“The pandemic highlights the extent to which protecting health workers is key to ensuring a functioning health system and a society,” reads the statement.
The Charter, released for the commemoration of the day calls upon governments and those running health services at local levels to take five actions to effectively protect health workers.
The five actions include, establishment of synergies between health workers and patients safety policies and strategies, development and implementation of national programmes for occupational health and safety of health workers.
It has also highlighted the need to ensure the protection of health workers from violence at workplace, improvement of mental health and psychological well-being and protection of health workers from physical and biological hazard.
