The Nigerian Society of Anaesthetists (NSA) has called for safer medication practices to reduce the risk of errors and deaths during the administration of drugs.

The NSA made the call while addressing a news conference on Sunday in Abuja to commemorate the 2022 World Anaesthesia Day celebration which is celebrated on Oct. 16.

The theme for this year’s celebration was ‘Medication Safety.

The National President of NSA, Prof. Elizabeth Ogboli-Nwasor, highlighted the role of anesthesia in global health and called for safer medication to eliminate any mistakes or errors that might result in death or cost implications.

” Unsafe medication practices and medical errors are the leading causes of avoidable harm in health care across the world.

“It is projected that five percent of all patients who are admitted to a hospital experience a medication error.

” An average hospital will have one medication error every 23 hours or one in every 20 admissions. Those errors result in severe patient harm, disability, and even death.

“Globally, the cost associated with medication errors has been estimated at $42 billion annually,” she said.

Ogboli-Nwasor who is also from the Department of Anaesthesia, Ahmadu Bello Teaching Hospital (ABUTH), Zaria, called on the government and drug manufacturers to ensure drugs were visibly labeled and should not be in the same ampoule as others to minimize errors.

According to her, some of the factors that contribute to medication errors include stress, fatigue, poor condition of training for anesthetics, and a shortage of anesthetists to cater to the Nigerian populace.

She noted that administration of the right drugs with appropriate dosage to the right patient and at the right time would reduce some of the errors in medication.

Similarly, Prof. Saidu Yakub, who is also an anesthetist Consultant at the ABUTH, Zaria, stressed the need for the government and stakeholders to synergize in curbing fake drugs.

“When we administer medication or when a fake drug is supplied, It means that one has to continue to administer it to the patient because the patient may not respond due to the low potency of the drug.

“Also, in that process, there will be excess medication administered to that patient, which may lead to harm.

“But if you administer the appropriate medication with the correct dose, the pain will go away and the patient would be able to sleep.

“So, we must do something about the issues of fake drugs,” he said.

Also, Dr. Queeneth Kalu, a Consultant Anaesthetist at the University of Calabar Teaching Hospital emphasized that the hospital management team, doctors, nurses, and engineers in charge of electricity supply were all critical towards achieving medication safety.

Kalu, while calling on the government to ensure uninterrupted power supply in hospitals, charges stakeholders to effectively discharge their responsibility judiciously.

The day seeks to celebrate the expertise that anaesthesiologists and the anesthesia community bring to improve medication safety practices and reduce medication errors.