The Federal Government has set up a National Taskforce on Clinical Governance and Patient Safety and also launched a National Patient Safety Implementation Framework to improve the quality of healthcare, reduce avoidable harm to patients, and strengthen accountability in Nigeria’s health system.
The Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Professor Mohammed Ali Pate, made this disclosure via social media broadcast at the weekend.
According to Professor Pate, the National Taskforce is a deliberate, system-wide effort to improve clinical standards, patient safety, and accountability across both public and private health facilities. The taskforce is expected to provide leadership and coordination to ensure that quality and safety become part of everyday clinical practice nationwide.
Clinical governance, which is central to quality healthcare, ensures that health institutions are responsible for maintaining high standards of care while continuously improving services. In Nigeria, repeated cases of medical errors, inconsistent treatment practices, poor reporting systems, and preventable patient harm have highlighted the need for a coordinated national approach.
The taskforce will guide patient safety policies, promote standard clinical practices, and support training and capacity building for health workers. The Ministry stressed that the approach will be non-punitive, focusing on prevention, learning, and system improvement rather than blame, except in proven cases of negligence.
In his briefing, the minister emphasised the importance of strong governance, early risk prevention, and accountability within the health system. He noted that improving reporting and learning systems will be key to reducing avoidable harm, improving care quality, and restoring public confidence in healthcare services.
Alongside the taskforce, the National Patient Safety Implementation Framework provides a clear roadmap for making patient safety a standard practice across Nigeria. The framework, explained in a video briefing shared by the Ministry, outlines practical steps to reduce preventable harm and improve service delivery in both public and private health facilities.
The framework identifies healthcare-related infections, medication errors, unsafe clinical practices, and weak reporting systems as major causes of preventable illness and death. To tackle these problems, it sets out priority actions, key interventions, and clear plans for implementation.
A major focus of the framework is the creation of national and state-level structures to drive patient safety programmes, strengthen reporting of adverse events, and promote a culture of safety among healthcare workers. It also highlights the importance of infection prevention and control, safe use of medicines, workforce training, and the use of data to improve decision-making and quality of care, Pate said.
The minster said the framework supports ongoing reforms under the NHRSII, which aims to strengthen Nigeria’s health sector through targeted investments, policy changes, and better accountability.
Health sector stakeholders including pharmacists, doctors, nurses, hospital managers, regulators, development partners, and private healthcare providers are expected to play key roles in turning the goals of the Taskforce and the patient safety framework into real improvements in patient care.
