WHO launches new 'safe surgery' checklist

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has launched a new campaign to ensure safe surgical procedures around the globe.

Its Safe Surgery Saves Lives scheme has devised a surgical safety checklist to reduce the risk of complication and deaths during operations.

Studies conducted have shown that complications occur in up to 16 per cent of surgical procedures in industrial countries, while developing nations have death rates of up to ten per cent during operations.

Three separate phases have been identified by the WHO for the checklist, such as before anaesthesia, before the incision and before the patient leaves the operating room.

Dr Atul Gawande, a surgeon from the Harvard School of Public Health, said: "Although there have been major improvements over the last few decades, the quality and safety of surgical care has been dismayingly variable in every part of the world."

The WHO recently praised China and the United Arab Emirates for their efforts in tackling the risk of unsafe blood donation, reaching close to 100 per cent voluntary blood contribution.