Dubai Health Authority and IQPC conferences hosts MENA Drug Safety Summit

Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs) are the sixth global leading cause of death amongst hospitalised patients and the incidence of serious ADRs in hospitalised patients is 6.7 per cent (Joshi et al).

The Middle East and North Africa region has millions of potential drug consumers, and projected to be a leading hub for conducting clinical trials, therefore it is crucial to focus the attention of the medical community on the importance of adverse drug reporting to ensure maximum patient health.

Recognising the importance of drug safety in the MENA region, Dubai Health Authority who are hosting Drug Safety MENA Summit with IQPC Conferences for regulators and healthcare professionals.

Dr. Mohammad Al Olama, CEO of the Hospital Services Sector at Dubai Health Authority (DHA) said, “At DHA, patient safety is one of our core principles and quality, risk management and performance management are integral aspects which help us ensure that patient safety remains our priority.

“The DHA is working to ensure that we further strengthen and develop our risk management processes as well as our performance management initiatives.”

The Drug Safety MENA Summit, to be held in Dubai, February 26-29, 2012 will familiarise attendees with the drug safety systems internationally and in Middle East and North Africa, highlighting fundamentals of medication errors, and covers a variety of topics including improving medication safety infrastructure, medication reconciliation, antidote regulations, psychotropic agent safety, expedited reporting, dealing with high alert medication and more. It will focus on promoting dialogue amongst regulators, medical professionals and pharmaceutical companies to ensure patient safety in the MENA.

More than 20 countries have been invited to the event which is supported by Dubai Health Authority, “ we are very excited about this summit, the exchange of knowledge, and the forging of the relationships with different stakeholders will pave the way to improve the drug safety infrastructure in the region”, said Divisional Director of Pharma events Doaa Said, “through events like this and the importance of drug safety in our region, we can begin the process of harmonising standards, sharing scientific data and using emerging technologies to benefit the safety of patients in our region” added Mrs. Said.

The summit is chaired by Dr. Steven Matarelli, Chief Operating Officer, Tawam Hospital and Dr. Samer Ellaham, Chief Quality Officer, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City and will host more than 20 expert speakers from the most important regulators, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies across the Middle East such as Joint Commission International, Saudi FDA, Dubai Health Authority, Ministry of Health UAE, SEHA, Health Authority Abu Dhabi, King Faisal Specialist Hospital, King Fahad Medical City and more.