Conference recommends patient rights award for GCC health care bodies

The 1st Gulf Patient Rights Conference concluded here Monday night by recommending a yearly prize among GCC countries’ health care facilities to consolidate patient rights.
The conference also recommended more awareness, training and education for personnel at these facilities on advanced proven techniques in treating patients with more dignity, respect, understanding, sympathy, and giving. It pointed out the need for such a course to be taught at colleges of medicine, and a local fellowship certificate in the subject in GCC countries.
Also, the conference recommended more research into the current state of patient rights in health care settings in these countries, highly lauding Islamic Shariah law for stressing not only patient rights but also the rights of family, relatives, friends and care providers, and requesting that the subject be observed in medical practices along with the human rights set by UN charters.
The conference, held under the patronage of Minister of Health Khalid Al- Falih, and inaugurated by his deputy, Hamad Al-Dowailia, was attended by more than 50 experts in health care, law, psychology, sociology and management, and a large audience of health care practitioners from the Kingdom, Gulf states and other counties.
They discussed many critical topics related to patient rights, either from the theoretical or applied perspectives with the objective to diagnose, review, promote and develop patient rights in health care settings according to the teaching of Islam and modern health care management practices in advanced health care systems in the world.
Discussed topics included patient rights from the Islamic perspective, international and regional experiences in patient rights, and the role of civil society organizations in supporting patient rights.
Topics also included diagnosing the current state of patient rights practices in GCC countries, the role of health facilities and health team members, regulatory authorities, and educational, professional and legal institutions in promoting patient rights.
Source: Arab News