In a laudable initiative, a group of healthcare workers, including doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, patients' groups and NGOs, met at Mumbai's KEM Hospital on Sunday to discuss the protection of patients from arbitrary treatment.

Under the aegis of the World Health Organisation's 'World alliance for patient safety', the meeting, coordinated by the Indian Confederation for Healthcare Accreditation, was aimed at spelling out healthcare standards, training of hospital employees, nursing homes and clinics in spotting medical errors and adverse reactions, and to report these in order to create an Indian database of common problems.

Medical errors like leaving a mop in the patient's body, operating upon a wrong eye, administering the wrong injection or expired drugs, or overdosing, are common complaints. Most of these go unreported; a miniscule may go to consumer redressal courts.

This meeting shows that even doctors are aware of the mistreatment. Such incidents, which go unreported, are proposed to be silently recorded and reported to an independent body. However, compliance remains voluntary.

"Till now, patient-doctor relations have hinged on a confrontationist we-versus-they approach. We are now trying to involve all stakeholders to improve the medical system from within," said gynaecologist Nikhil Datar.

He pointed out that the western model, which was based on compensation laws and had led to doctors practising defensive medicine, had failed and it was time Indian doctors made a collaborative effort with patients to boost healthcare services.

Akhil Sangal of the ICHA said, "We want hospitals to report errors, even if it is done confidentially, so that we can identify problem areas and work on them. It won't be a about a stamp of approval as much as a real effort to gain excellence in healthcare."

Mumbai to be hub
The pan-India patient safety movement will be flagged off with Mumbai hospitals. Suhas Kate, president of the Association of Medical Consultants, said representatives of the group had met Maharashtra's additional chief secretary Chandra Iyengar last week to facilitate the setting up of a patient grievance redressal committee.

''Patients or the aggrieved party term it medical negligence but in many cases these are medical errors which are beyond the capacity of the doctor to reverse. Fearing a legal case, doctors do not report it to hospital administration or any scientific body,'' said Datar.

''We want hospitals to report errors, even if it is done confidentially, so that we can identify problem areas and work on them. It won't be a about a stamp of approval as much as a real effort to gain excellence in healthcare,'' said Dr Akhil Sangal of the ICHA. He cited the example of an initiative of voluntary reporting in the US, where bloodstream infections across hospitals were reduced by 66 per cent.

''Doctors in the west have started sharing information in confidential meetings. Information shared in these meetings is not taken as evidence in the court of law. This encourages doctors to openly discuss errors and prevent others from repeating them,'' added Datar after the meeting at the King Edward Memorial Hospital, one of the largest government-run teaching hospitals in the country.