The events of the World Medicines Safety Week campaign, under the slogan "Let's make medicines safer," concluded today, Sunday, at the Children's University Hospital in Damascus. The Ministry of Health launched this campaign on November 2, aiming to highlight the role of pharmacovigilance in enhancing patient safety.
Campaign Axes
The axes of the last day of the campaign focused on the functioning of the pharmacovigilance team, drug surveillance, as well as the role of pharmacovigilance in detecting, understanding, and evaluating side effects. The campaign also addressed drug side effects, along with the mechanism for electronic reporting of undesirable drug interactions on the Ministry of Health's website.
Importance of Reporting
Hani Baghdadi, Deputy Minister of Health for Pharmaceutical Affairs, emphasized in a statement to SANA the importance of pharmacovigilance and the necessity of reporting drug side effects, noting that safety stems from reporting these effects. He clarified that a specialized team collects and processes data for evaluation, emphasizing that this is a collaborative task among doctors, pharmacists, nurses, patients, and their families to ensure the correctness of the medication when administered.
For his part, Damascus Health Director Wael Daghash stated that citizens reporting side effects occurring during drug use helps the Ministry of Health evaluate drugs and companies. He added that this procedure helps stop drugs that may cause major problems or complications threatening life.
Preventive Role
For her part, Duaa Al-Alobi, the pharmacovigilance officer at the Children's Hospital, confirmed that the importance of the reporting form for undesirable effects lies in its role in protecting healthcare providers from subsequent liability, as well as its contribution to preventing the recurrence of the effect in other children who may experience the same condition. She explained that the effectiveness of the form depends on the extent of the healthcare provider's interest in treating it seriously, noting that failing to give it due importance deprives it of its intended purpose.
Al-Alobi clarified that reporting constitutes a preventive measure that documents the case and protects the reporter, contributing to protecting other children from experiencing the same undesirable effect. The Ministry of Health launched the World Medicines Safety Week campaign events on November 2, aiming to raise awareness of the importance of pharmacovigilance and emphasize the necessity of reporting any drug side effects through official channels and the pharmacovigilance circle at the Ministry of Health, thereby contributing to ensuring the safety and efficacy of medicines.
Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)
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