H.E. Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Saidi, Minister of Health presided on Tuesday over the first meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre on Quality of Care and Patient Safety, with the presence of Dr. Rashid Al Abri, Head of WHO-CC, as well as Dr. Qamrah Al Sariri, MOH Director General of Quality Assurance Center.

H.E. Minister of Health pointed out that this national center that was officially announced at the Arab Health Ministries Meeting on December 2018, represents all health sectors in the Sultanate and it seeks to upgrade quality and patients safety at the national, regional and international levels.

His Excellency stressed that designating Oman as a WHO collaborating center granted upon demonstrating  a significant progress in the field of Quality over the years in addition to its continuous collaboration with the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean particularly in developing and implementing patient safety tools, such as “Safe Surgery Saves Life”, “Clean Care Safer Care”, “Patient Engagement and Empowerment for Patient Safety” and “Reporting and Learning Systems for Safer Care” as well as in operational research on patient safety and quality.

The Collaborating Center will focus on five main tasks underlined in the provision of the needed resources, professional development and training, preparation of policies and strategies, integrating patient safety teaching within the health institutes curricula, along with conducting patient safety research and studies.

In light of this, a ministerial decision was issued to form a permanent committee to coordinate the work of the WHO Collaborating Center in the field of quality and patient safety.

Dr. Rashid Al Abri emphasized that this Center will have representatives from all health sectors in the Sultanate. the Center, Al Abri added, is the only center on the region in the same field and will serve as a source of Omani experience in the region, and in return benefit the national health institutions from WHO experiences.

The Collaborating Center aims at implementing several themes in cooperation with the World Health Organization. It is concerned in hosting international resources and expertise to provide the best practices in the field of patient safety and quality and hence choose the most appropriate methods to improve. In addition, the Center provide education and training on the principles of patient safety and quality in cooperation with the WHO and other non-profit public institutions.

Moreover, the WHO Collaborating Center aims to integrate patient safety and quality objectives into health policies and strategies, as well as supporting WHO Regional Member States in collaboration with the World Health Organization.

In addition, the Center inspires to integrate the teaching of patient safety and quality in the curriculum of academic health institutions. it encourages conduction of research on patient safety and quality, as well as leading  joint research with collaborating centers and NGOs which results could be used in the development of patient safety and quality management system globally, as well as standardization and monitoring of quality and patient safety activities.