Lagos takes safety campaign to health sector

Lagos State government has taken its sectoral safety campaign to the health sector with government urging all health practitioners, professionals and operators to improve on safety concerns to promote the lives of patients and other members of the public.

Director-General and Chief Executive Officer of the Lagos State Safety Commission (LSSC) Mrs Dominga Odebunmi stated this at a focal meeting with accredited health sector safety champions, ahead of a conference slated to hold next month on growing safety concerns in the health sector.

According to Mrs Odebunmi, the conference which would hold at De Hall, beside Lagos State Printing Corporation, Ikeja, would have among other speakers Prof. M. Hal Sosabowski, Joe Crombie and Mrs Elizabeth Ozogolu all from the UK, to be complemented by other seasoned local speakers.

She said the conference with the theme: Safety across Border, which is being packaged in collaboration with Stream Pharmaceutical, would among others, generate a document for the implementation of safety guidelines and regulations in the health sector.

Mrs Odebunmi said though the Ministry of Health has been up to the task of enforcing standards aimed at promoting safety of lives in the state, efforts still need to be made to make safety a conscious part of deliverable services in all health institutions.

She said: “The need to develop health and safety management system in our hospitals, pharmacy, dentistry, ophthalmologuy etc cannot be over emphasised. This informed our move to initiate new corrective safety measures to be implemented within the health sector.”

She said the commission is working with health-related specialists who are accredited safety agents of the commission on various policies that would promote safety of members of the general public.

The focus of the conference which comes up on September 24, for all public sector operators and September 25 for their private sector colleagues are the generation of a safety policy manual for strategic implementation, the promotion of first aid enlightenment campaign in all schools in the state and the generation of guidelines for safety response during disaster and recovery.

She, therefore, called on all relevant bodies within the health sector to collaborate with the government and support the initiative which according to her, aims at bringing the health sector at par with international standards.

Throwing the weight of the Ministry of Health to the initiative Commissioner 3, in the Lagos State Health Service Commission, Mrs. Kudi Ligali, said all hands must be on board in the task of avoiding accidents and avoidable deaths in all hospitals and health institutions in the state.

She listed areas of safety concerns to include environmental cleanliness of hospitals, storage facilities of drugs and other equipments, basic live saving skills, temparament and attitude of health workers, as well as the habits of patrons and patients of health institutions that could impede safety.

Also speaking LSSC Deputy Director Engr Hakeem Liadi said the initiative to take safety to the health sector has been on since last year.

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