Hamad Medical Corporation’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology (DLMP) has performed over 20 million tests in 2019, providing a comprehensive range of specialised laboratory services for the people in Qatar.
The DLMP not only serves the patients of HMC, with dedicated facilities at different sites, but also provides referral services to several other entities across Qatar, including the military, police, embassies, private hospitals, and Primary Health care Corporation (PHCC), said Dr Ajayeb Al Nabet, Chairperson of the DLMP, during the Sixth Annual Lab Day celebrations, yesterday.
“DLMP focuses on delivering the latest laboratory diagnostic services to patients in HMC and other institutions to enhance diagnosis, treatment, management, and prevention of diseases across the country,” she added.
DLMP has performed a total of 20, 455, 527 tests in 2019 and among that 17,943,863 tests were done for HMC’s hospitals and facilities. Other tests have been done for several facilities including 1,736,770 for PHCC; 370, 466 for Qatar Biobank; and 31,087 for the Sidra Medicine. DLMP also provides tests for the Blood Bank Service.
Dr Al Nabet delivered a presentation on ‘Outcome, value and patient-based clinical diagnostic services for Qatar,’ during the event held at Qatar Rehabilitation Institute in the presence of several officials from the HMC.
“The DLMP through phased strategic plans, high-quality services, and sharing its rich knowledge base resources is following the vision of one standard of care and one diagnostic service,” she said.
With the opening of a fully automated central laboratory as part of DLMP last year, services have seen a continued transformation, which involves a commitment to standardised testing and the implementation of automated platforms.
Emphasising on the goals for 2020, Dr Al Nabet said that DLMP will focus on several areas including supporting Precision Medicine, providing integrated services and moving towards FIFA 2022 by strengthening structures and ensure adequate resources are available for blood services and infectious disease monitoring.
Separately speaking at a press conference, Dr Al Nabet and other officials at DLMP highlighted the achievements and activities of the department.
“The Blood Bank Service is the sole source of blood and blood products for the country and Qatar depends on the service for a safe and adequate supply of blood and blood products. DLMP provides safe blood to all hospitals in the country after mandatory tests,” said Dr Saloua Moahmmed, Associate Consultant, Medical manager and Blood Donor Centre.
In 2019 a total of 35,382 blood samples by 29,062 donors were tested by DLMP.
DLMP has also introduced a hub and spoke model to enhance the speed and quality of services. “The hub is full-service laboratory offering collection services as well as comprehensive test menu in chemistry, haematology, blood transfusion, anatomic pathology and other specialist services. Rapid response laboratories operate in acute care hospitals and provide collection services for inpatients and outpatients as well as limited onsite laboratory tests,” said Dr Jalaludeen Bhuiyan, Head of Clinical and Chemistry Lab Services.
“The rapid response laboratories coordinate the transfer of non-urgent and specialised specimens to the nearest hub for testing,” he added.
He also said that DLMP has launched a new initiative to deliver a Value-Based Service and introduce cost savings and efficiency across HMC.
Annual Lab Day celebrations highlight the role of the lab team in delivering the highest quality patient care. This included a public exhibition held in the lobby of the Women’s Wellness and Research Center and the Ambulatory Care Center featuring the different sections within the Department and the wide expertise they offer. “If you consider the complexity of the diseases and the new emerging diseases it is important to identify, treat and manage a patient. All that cannot be done without a diagnostic test. We have a wide range of divisions highly specialised functions, each one has its own technology and specialist,” said Dr Javed Akthar, Director, Laboratory Services, DLMP.