During the discussion, renowned medical practitioners and educationists including Dr Abdul Basit Baig, Executive Director, Quality and Monitoring Directorate, Indus Hospital, Dr Rafeeq Alam, Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ziauddin University, and Dr Riaz Qureshi, Professor of Family Medicine, Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), Dr Waqar Ahmed, Assistant Director, DRAP Karachi and Dr Mahrukh Mughal, AD. CDL Karachi have shared their views on patient safety and discussed measures to improve awareness of key issues relating to patient safety amongst the public. These included the importance of taking prescription medication as prescribed, and the monitoring and timely reporting of any adverse events.
The panel urged medical practitioners, drug regulators from the Ministry of Health and health advisors/professionals to work together and spread awareness about patient safety and develop a mechanism to mitigate risks.
"The goal is to improve the health literacy of citizens and empower patients to be actively engaged in taking responsibility for their own health. In this regard, technological Solutions such as SafeTrack, Bayer's new web-based tool, can go a long way toward promoting safety," said Dr Syed Rizwan Ahmed, Pharma covigilance Country Head at Bayer.
During the event, Bayer Pakistan announced the launch of SafeTrack, a new web-based, digital tool for the public which is designed to allow for easy, quick and convenient reporting of adverse events.
"As a leading pharmaceutical company, patient safety is one of Bayer's core values and our highest priority. This event and the launch of SafeTrack, demonstrate Bayer's commitment to ensuring the safety of current and future patients and consumers," said Dr Imran Ahmad Khan, CEO and Managing Director, Bayer Pakistan.
"We hope that this Patient Safety Day event and panel discussion will encourage patient safety stakeholders to use SafeTrack, which provides a quick, easy and convenient way of reporting adverse events digitally back to us to help improve patient safety," he added.