As part of the developmental plan carried out by the Ministry of Health (MOH) to improve its health and therapeutic services provided in the Kingdom, including laboratory services, His Excellency the Minister of Health Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, has given his directives to accelerate equipping and operating the National Health Laboratory (NHL), located in Riyadh. These directives are meant to make the NHL the first global central laboratory of its kind in Saudi Arabia and the Middle East; because it will play an important role, in terms of participating in the national and international surveillance networks and improving the quality of both public and private laboratory services.
In this regard, the NHL has organized a workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday, 15-16/3/2016 (corresponding to 6-7/6/1437H); to discuss the technical specifications and preliminary design of the schemes, proposed for biosafety laboratories (BSL3 and 4), which are suggested to be established in the NHL. These schemes aim at ensuring the best results, by means of participation of specialists, as well as briefing on the global standards adopted in designing such laboratories. Over two days, the workshop comprised many worksheets and fruitful discussions, most notably the definition of the project, a detailed presentation of the engineering designs of biosafety laboratories (3 and 4), the general specifications and engineering standards, and the laboratory equipment and furnishing, in addition to the preparation of the general specifications of the project. The workshop also included many discussions about the advanced devices that will be available in the NHL, as being the largest laboratory of its kind in the Middle East.
For his part, the CEO of the National Health Laboratory, Dr. Ali bin Muhammad Al-Shanqeeti has pointed out that this project will be implemented at the highest international standards adopted for the establishment of such laboratories, in line with the global lab-style; so as to be the first of its kind in the Middle East. He went on adding that the NHL will play a key role in the diagnosis of communicable diseases and the identification of their high-risk causes that require a special control by a high-level specialized technical staff, in such a manner that helps the NHL achieve its objectives and move forward according to the road map set to it as part of the strategy of the MOH Agency for Laboratories and Blood Banks.
It is worth mentioning that this workshop has been attended by a number of relevant departments in the MOH and a number of specialists in the field of laboratory, with participation of one of the international companies specialized in this domain. The participants paid reconnaissance tour to the NHL headquarter in Riyadh, which is an integrated edifice composed of four laboratories buildings, in addition to the main building, which consists of three floors comprising offices of the administrative and technical staff, in addition to the scientific lectures auditorium.