The Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has announced the launch of an official Health Research Governance platform that serves as a gateway to facilitate interaction between the department and all institutions and research facilities in Qatar and abroad.
This comes in continuation of its support for biomedical and health research, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
The portal includes several services, the most important of which are the registration and assurance of institutional ethical committees for human (IRB), animal (IACUC) and bio-safety (IBC) research, the statement noted.
These are in addition to the registration services of researchers and administrators involved in research work and other services related to the registration of activities pertaining to seminars, conferences and training workshops in Qatar.
The portal, which can be accessed at https://research.moph.gov.qa, “is a key database for the follow-up and documentation of all official work related to health research that will contribute to the realisation of future knowledge aspirations and expansion in the size of the research sector in Qatar”, the MoPH has stressed.
In line with the Qatar National Vision 2030 for sustainable development, the Health Research Governance Department at the MoPH is working to ensure the needs of the current and future generations, the statement pointed out. This is done by contributing to the preparation of national strategies and operational plans for the health and scientific research sector in Qatar.
The Health Research Governance Department at the ministry is responsible for organising and monitoring health research in Qatar. It is concerned with the development and implementation of policies, ethical guidelines and regulations for health research projects that include social and behavioural research, chronic disease research, communicable and non-communicable disease research, clinical trials, biomedical research, sports, genetic, personalised medicine and biological specimen research, as well as animal and laboratory research.
As indicated in Amiri Decree 14 of 2019, the formation of the Health Research Governance Department will help develop policies and frameworks that define the national strategic direction for health research (human-animal-laboratory), as well as support research activities, researchers and research infrastructure. These are in addition to meeting research needs and supporting practical discoveries and important medical achievements that will improve healthcare and therapeutics in Qatar.
Also important is the role of the department in co-ordinating, simplifying and improving the policies and requirements related to the conduct and monitoring of research carried out on humans, tissues, stem cells and molecular genetics projects, as well as developing a database to collect and analyse research activities locally and internationally.