Omar launches conference on patient safety in Srinagar

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Saturday inaugurated the two-day national conference on Patient Safety (NCPS-2025) at the Sher-i-Kashmir International Convention Centre (SKICC), organised by the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences (SKIMS), Soura. The theme of the conference is “Every Error a Lesson, Every Lesson a Safer Care.”

In his inaugural address, the Chief Minister said he hoped the conference would generate actionable recommendations for the government to implement across health institutions in Jammu and Kashmir, ensuring better healthcare and patient safety standards.

“Through this conference, I hope actionable points emerge which the government can adopt in both major and smaller hospitals, ensuring that patient safety becomes as much a focus as patient care,” Omar Abdullah said.

He emphasised that while patient care and patient safety are closely connected, they are distinct aspects of healthcare. “Patient care is about how we treat the disease—diagnosis, treatment and empathy for the patient. On the other hand, patient safety would mean taking every precaution to avoid errors that can endanger life. A treatment cannot be considered good unless both are ensured,” he added.

Omar said such deliberations should not remain confined to academic discussions but translate into practical measures replicable in hospitals across the Union Territory. “The biggest benefit of such conferences is that we can learn from the best practices of others and adopt them to our own unique circumstances,” he remarked.

On the occasion, the Chief Minister released the Souvenir of NCPS-2025 and the Annual Appraisal Report 2024–25 of SKIMS.

Minister for Health and Medical Education Sakina Itoo lauded SKIMS as a premier medical institution envisioned by Sher-i-Kashmir Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah. “We must remain eternally grateful to Sher-i-Kashmir and his team for establishing SKIMS.”