Five People Die Every Minute Due To Medical Harm, WHO Reports

https://www.medicaldaily.com/five-people-die-every-minute-due-medical-harm-who-reports-443406

The World Health Organization (WHO) launched the World Patient Safety Day on September 17 in the hopes of making the public become aware of the growing issue on medical errors that negatively impacts healthcare. About 2.6 million people belonging to the middle- and low-income countries die every year because of incorrect medical treatment, according to a recent report.

“No one should be harmed while receiving healthcare,“ Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said.

Dr. Ghebreyesus added that at least five of patients’ lives are being claimed by unsafe care every minute.

Misdiagnosis, wrong prescriptions and medication errors are the most common reasons of these medical harm. Four out of 10 patients in primary care as well as those in outpatient treatment experience treatment errors, according to the report issued by WHO.

Prescribing the wrong list of medications has accounted for $42 billion annually and high-risk surgical procedures caused one million deaths in people each year, per the report. The WHO emphasized that improving patient safety would significantly cut the financial cost.

Once people get admitted to the hospital, they are exposed to potential medical errors. So how would one safeguard oneself or their loved ones from such harm?

It would be best to have someone by your side in order to protect yourself from suffering from incorrect medical treatment.

Raising questions regarding the medications given before taking them such as its indications and doses will also help. Healthcare providers would be willing to supply the necessary information out of diligence to make certain that they are also doing their job correctly.

According to research, about one out of five elderly patients in the U.S. are harmed by medical care. Those who are experiencing medical injury have almost doubled the rate of deaths in contrast to those who are receiving proper treatment.

Filed under: General Problems