KUWAIT: Minister of Health Dr. Ahmad Al-Awadi stressed that medical laboratory services form the backbone of the health system in Kuwait and contribute a lot to accurate diagnosis and effective treatment of patients, so supporting and developing this sector is one of the main priorities of the ministry.

Minister Al-Awadi said, during his opening speech of the third conference of medical laboratories (Clinical Progress in Biochemistry) on Sunday, that biochemistry laboratories have a prominent role in the success of the health system and are the main source of many necessary information that contributes to the early diagnosis of diseases, providing appropriate therapeutic solutions, and following up on the patient’s health status.

He pointed to the Ministry’s keenness to support medical laboratories. The state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, advanced technological equipment, and techniques strive to improve the protocols of work in them, develop and train medical and technical personnel, and promote scientific research in this vital field.

He pointed to the development of several services recently, the most important of which is the electronic linking system for patient results with the Sahel application, which allows the patient’s results to reach the patient immediately and facilitates the follow-up of his health condition. The completion of the electronic linking service for laboratory material requests between hospitals facilitated the process of ordering consumables quickly and effectively.

He stated that the Ministry has provided modern technologies that keep pace with global development and allow specialized analyses and services. This is an important segment of patients, most notably mass spectrometry devices, which are used with multiple technologies in some hospitals, such as Amiri Hospital, the Addiction Center, and the Yacoub Behbehani Center.

He noted the participation of 15 specialists in the conference from inside and outside Kuwait, highlighting the latest discoveries and developments in the field of medical laboratories and reviewing the latest technologies in the field of advanced devices and the latest artificial intelligence applications and their role in improving the analytical quality and effective management of medical laboratories. The Health Minister pointed out that the conference focuses on toxicology analyses, addictive drugs, and analyses that serve obesity surgery patients and oncology patients.

For her part, the chairman of the conference and chairman of the board of medical laboratories departments at the Ministry, Dr. Ebtisam Al-Juma, said that the conference will discuss a number of topics ranging from effective management of medical laboratories to policies in medical analyzes to ensure the quality of analyzes by continuous auditing and monitoring the performance of devices. She added that the conference is concerned with reviewing modern trends in clinical biochemistry analyses and modern technologies such as mechanization and the use of artificial intelligence, which contribute significantly to improving the quality of medical work and services.

She pointed out that the biochemistry laboratories in our health facilities have a great responsibility for providing vital data, stating that biochemistry laboratories are the third eye that sees what is not seen with the naked eye, as they receive blood, urine, and body fluid samples for analysis with extreme accuracy, and not only that, but these laboratories provide comprehensive analysis of physiological indicators and hormone screening. — KUNA