'World Patient Safety Day' Focuses on Worker Protections

The COVID-19 pandemic during 2020 presents a stark reminder of the importance of health worker safety and offers 'too many examples of health workers becoming infected and dying from COVID-19. The harsh consequences of inequalities have also been laid bare by the pandemic,' states a new commentary published by The Lancet.

As everyone marks the WHO's World Patient Safety Day 2020 on September 17,2 020, it is crucial to highlight that there can be no patient safety ...' without health worker safety. One cannot exist without the other.'

As in previous outbreaks of Ebola virus disease, MERS, and SARS-1, only when health workers are safe can they keep patients safe. Furthermore, 'Governments and healthcare organizations must act now to support and protect the health workforce ... so that we can provide safe care for our patients,' concluded this editorial.