From November 6-12, the Regional Ministry of Health is participating in the global #MedSafetyWeek campaign, a collaboration involving more than eighty drug regulatory agencies and various non-governmental organizations, to raise awareness of the importance of reporting side effects of medicines.

With the theme “Who can report?”, this year’s campaign will focus on the key role of every patient, doctor, nurse and pharmacist who reports an adverse reaction and thus contributes to the safe use of medicines.

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The Regional Ministry of Health

All drug agencies operate systems to detect and analyze adverse drug reactions. The purpose of safety monitoring is to obtain more information on known adverse reactions and to discover new ones. The ongoing collection and follow-up of information from the reports received helps to identify risks associated with drugs and to take measures to minimize harm.

MedSafetyWeek is an international campaign led by the Uppsala Monitoring Centre (UMC), the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring. The campaign is supported by WHO and members of the International Coalition of Medicines Regulatory Authorities (ICMRA).

The Department of Health emphasizes the importance of reporting adverse reactions through the Yellow Card Program. All suspicions reported through this channel are thoroughly evaluated and examined to determine the appropriate measures to be taken to protect the population from harm. Since 1999, the Pharmacovigilance Center of the Regional Ministry of Health has received and processed more than fifteen thousand notifications in which patients, caregivers and health professionals have played a key role. Each report is important in generating greater knowledge and understanding of the benefits and risks of medicines in clinical use, and allows measures to be taken to minimize risks.

Reporting suspected side effects to the Pharmacovigilance Center helps make medicines safer for patients around the world. In some cases, it can lead to better prescribing advice, which can improve patient outcomes.

The Conselleria de Salut recommends that any side effects with a medicine should be reported as soon as possible. Notifications of adverse reactions can be sent through the website farmacovigilancia.caib.es. Healthcare professionals can also access them through direct access integrated in the clinical history computer systems.