The symposium, entitled Medical Errors and the Mechanism to Deal with Them, has been organized by the Ministry of Health, said the ministry’s spokesman, Dr. Khalid Al-Mirghalani.

Al-Mirghalani said the three ministers will present papers at the event. They include Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah who will present a paper on the nature of medical errors and the ministry’s efforts to reduce the occurrence of such errors; Minister of Justice Mohammed Al-Eissa who will present a paper on the mechanism to deal with medical errors in the light of Islamic Shariah law; and Minister of Culture and Information Abdulaziz Khoja who will deliver a paper on the mechanism of dealing with medical errors in the media in light of the Kingdom’s media regulations.

Al-Mirghalani said the objective of the symposium is to discuss the problem, especially in view of the fact that members of the public have inaccurate or distorted understandings of the issue. “Although the media are making it a big issue, medical errors are not a major phenomenon in the Kingdom. Because we believe in offering error-free health-care services, the ministry has decided to organize this symposium,” he said.

According to figures published in 2008, there were 1,356 complaints of medical errors and resolutions passed on 650 cases.

Al-Mirghalani said the symposium is a positive move by the Ministry of Health to deal with the issue in a transparent way.

The event is open to the public and attendees will include Shoura Council members, intellectuals, journalists, and representatives from the National Commission for Human Rights, the Health Services Council and medicine committees.