By Farhad Naibkhel-KABUL: Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) on Saturday urged the health centers to focus on better healthcare services with lower prices in a bid to satisfy patients across the country.
“Health centers must struggle to provide better healthcare services with lower cost to gratify patients and ensure their safety,” said deputy public health minister, Ahmad Jan Naeem.
Addressing celebration of ‘Sixth Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Convention’, run by French Medical Institute for Mothers and Children (FMIC), he said that since 2003, health sector progressed well on the bases of quantity, but quality needs more focus in the hospitals to serve standards.
He stated that Quality Improvement Department has been established in the ministry and some standards created, but it is not enough.
Quality improvement requires consecutive efforts for long time to gain expected goal, he insisted.
According to World Health Organization (WHO), one patient of 10 would face medical danger during treatment in the world, which is more in Afghanistan due to lack of standard systems.
Naeem claimed that even some medical treatment threats would cause death, therefore, providing standard cure will ensure patients safety.
Pointing to running of Sixth Quality Improvement and Patient Safety Convention by FMIC, he urged other health centers to follow marking of quality day in order to increase awareness and fosterbetterment of health services throughout the country.
Hinting to FMIC’s commitments to quality care, Chairman and Provisional Operating Committee of FMIC, Lee Hilling said that “Organizations can use the business management system to make improvements and better understand their business.”
He said that it is the place to be pleasure that FMIC focused over quality of healthcare.
The work that different departments of FMIC have presented reflects an environment of quality controls and patient safety built into FMIC’s services.
“The sixth convention brought together around 150 healthcare professionals from Kabul to discuss healthcare quality issues and propose their solutions,” he mentioned.
In this event, 15 quality projects on a wide range of quality related issues as patients’ safety at private health facilities, reducing cost of care and many other were presented.
The purpose of running of this program is not only ensuring quality in FMIC, but an effort to create a forum within the community for improving quality in all health centersacross the country.
The World Quality Day marked in Kabul, while most of Afghan patients have serious complaints regarding low quality of healthcare and medicine with high costs in the country. Also due to substandard healthcare and medicine, thousands of Afghan patients travel to abroad particularly to Pakistan, Iran and India annually and affording high charges for treatment.
The World Quality Day was introduced in 1990 to increase awareness of quality internationally. It encourages individuals and organizations to focus on the importance of quality, growth and prosperity and demonstrate their commitment to quality excellence.