Reducing Fatal medical errors- US delegation to Bangalore

“First, do no harm” – Hippocratic Oath.

 Fatal medical errors in health care services are much commoner than generally believed. The number of years of potential life lost from potential medication errors is greater than the number of years of potential life lost from all accidents combined, including falls and drowning! A recent study in Archives of Internal Medicine showed that deaths due to medical errors are increasing exponentially, with increase of fatal medical errors by 360% over 2 decades. So much so, that doctors are discussing the best ways to disclose fully and in clear language, any possibilities of medical errors. Dr. Sanjaya Kumar’ is a Medical informatics and healthcare technology expert bringing message of patient safety and quality to Bangalore hospitals. His mission is his passion- working to make healthcare safer worldwide, and promoting hospital safety.

Dr. Sanjaya Kumar, founder and Chief Medical Officer of Quantros, Inc., along with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom shall visit Bangalore during Late November as part of a San Francisco-Bangalore Sister City Initiative

Kumar founded Quantros, Inc., a web-based SaaS vendor that provides software and services to healthcare organizations in the areas of patient safety, quality, risk management, performance improvement, accreditation and compliance, real-time surveillance and centralized business and clinical decision support solutions.

Quality healthcare

And Kumar is not alone in his mission. As a mentor to Kumar, a board member of Quantros and a founding director of the San Francisco-Bangalore alliance, businessman Vish Mishra has particular insight into Kumar. “I am very happy to see Dr. Kumar taking his message to hospitals in India about patient safety and promoting use of technology to address this problem,” said Mishra, Venture Director of Clearstone Venture Partners of California and India, and President of TiE Silicon Valley, the founding and largest chapter of TiE, the largest not-for-profit global network of entrepreneurs dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship.

Vish Mishra added, “Medication errors are among the leading causes of deaths in U.S. hospitals. By some estimates, it’s 100,000 patients. Given India’s size, this figure could be much larger there. I’m glad that the Sister City Initiative can create an historic opportunity to share these types of best practices from America to promote safer patient care.”

In advance of the trip, Kumar has pledged to donate to Indian hospitals 500 copies of his book, Fatal Care, which features detailed personal stories of medical errors and practical tips for patients how to safeguard themselves in hospitals

You can listen to the first chapter here.