National level

The Ministry of Health and Medical Education implemented the Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiatives in 2010. It was initially piloted in 10 hospitals. The hospitals have been internally and externally assessed and by 2015 the Initiative will be expanded to a further 50 hospitals.

For the first phase of implementation, the main objective of the Initiative was to achieve implementation of a critical standard. These are compulsory standards with which a hospital has to comply to become enrolled in the global Patient Safety Friendly Hospital Initiative and the national accreditation system.

In order to ensure better implementation of standards in pilot hospitals, a team composing a physician, a nurse and hospital manager was established in each hospital. These teams participated in more than five national workshops.

As a second step of the Initiative, 120 other standard core and development indicators will be introduced in the 10 piloted hospitals. An international consultant will provide technical support in introducing the standards, assessing implementation of the patient safety standards in the selected hospitals piloting critical standards, and prepare a plan of action to roll out the core and developmental standards nationally.