Minister of Health Abdulla Ameen has met with Director General of World Health Organisation (WHO) Tedros Adhanom. The health minister met Director General of WHO on the side-lines of the 4th Global Ministerial Summit on Patient Safety held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
During the meeting, Health Minister Ameen discussed the challenges faced for small island states in delivering adequate health services. He also highlighted on difficulties in providing swift health services and developing human resources. Furthermore, the health minister and director general agreed to work together to meet the specific health needs and Patient Safety in island countries. Moreover, the health minister met with Health Minister of Kuwait Basel Humoud Alsabah and discussed areas of collaboration and support for health sector.
The health minister met with the Vice Minister of Health of Japan Suzuki Yasuhiro and discussed collaboration within the health sector.
The 4th Global Ministerial Patient Summit was held in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, from March 2-3, under the theme: Universal Health Coverage and Patient Safety. The global event was attended by health ministers from more than 31 countries and patient safety experts from over 49 countries.
During the event, efforts were put together to define strategies that will support the integration of patient safety as an essential element in achieving universal health coverage, which will be met by raising awareness and fostering contextual applicability, particularly in resource limited settings.
The summit is aspired to galvanise international policy and governmental actors to prioritise patient safety at all levels. During the summit, countries signed the Jeddah Declaration on Patient Safety.