MUSCAT: The central public health laboratories in the Sultanate of Oman played key role during the coronavirus pandemic. His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik ordered the establishment of a new central laboratory for public health on June 2, 2020.
The Ministry of Health is planning to establish an integrated modern building for the central public health laboratories with state-of-the-art technologies and lab equipment. The new building will contain a sophisticated level-3 safety laboratory for tuberculosis (TB) and other highly infectious viral diseases, a genome sequencing department, and other departments that will be developed as a neonatal screening department for metabolic disorders.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has recently announced the selection of the central public health laboratories in the Sultanate of Oman as a cooperating centre in the field of emerging and novel infectious diseases. It is the first of its kind in the Eastern Mediterranean region and the centre represents a new addition to Oman’s record of achievements in the health field. The selection of the Central Public Health Laboratories in the Sultanate of Oman represents a significant milestone as the centre will serve the Eastern Mediterranean Region and will play a global role with other centres worldwide.
The establishment of a collaborating centre provides an opportunity to share experiences, and enables countries in the region and the world to benefit from Oman’s experience in the field of public health laboratories, such as providing technical consultations and organising training events.
The collaborating centre aims to enhance countries' preparedness and response for timely laboratory detection and management of outbreaks of novel, emerging and dangerous pathogens. It also aims to facilitate the transfer of safe and appropriate diagnostic techniques, practices and training in laboratories, as well as enhancing the technical capabilities of our public health laboratories to detect and report pathogens.
The Department of Public Health Laboratories enjoys a good international and regional reputation. The Sultanate of Oman periodically hosts many regional meetings, as well as many trainees from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and neighbouring countries for training in its laboratories. The central laboratories have also been recognised in 2006 by the WHO to become a regional reference laboratory for the Eastern Mediterranean Region for measles and rubella. Thirty-eight laboratories from different countries of the region are participating in the programme. It has also become a WHO-accredited polio reference laboratory and regional coordinator for the PulsNetn Middle East network for foodborne disease surveillance since 2006.
Additionally, the laboratory was re-elected in 2018 to play the same role. Dr Hanan Salim al Kindi, Director of Central Public Health Laboratories at the Ministry of Health said that the Central Laboratories of the Ministry of Health are a national reference under the umbrella of the Directorate General for Disease Surveillance and Control. These laboratories are concerned with conducting a wide range of laboratory tests using different techniques to diagnose and monitor diseases, as well as conducting the necessary surveys to investigate the spread of associating microbes and toxins affecting public health.
Dr Hanan pointed out that with the beginning of the Covid pandemic, the National Centre for Covid-19 disease was established in the public health laboratories, and was entrusted with the diagnosis and monitoring of genomic mutations of the novel coronavirus (Covid-19). Laboratories’ experts at the Ministry of Health analysed very large quantities of samples from hospitals and outpatient clinics. They numbered more than 1,000 samples per day at that time. She said that the centre is still continuing to conduct Covid-19 tests.
The number of samples analysed at the centre since the beginning of the pandemic has reached approximately 276,000 samples, including 240,000 samples in 2020. Dr. Hanan further said that the experts in the public health laboratories in 2020 contributed to supporting the government and private sectors in terms of training, choosing types of solutions and giving an opinion on the design of private laboratories that are concerned with Covid testing and then carrying out periodic inspection visits. The experts also contributed to the selection of appropriate rapid testing devices that were later used in Ministry of Health hospitals and many private laboratories. She pointed out that with providing the centre with advanced second-generation devices for genetic intrusion monitoring, the centre was able to provide information on emerging mutants of Covid-19.
An agreement was recently concluded for the centre to provide genome sequencing services to a number of countries in the region. Dr. Hanan continued, "The public health laboratories also host the National Influenza Centre recognised by the World Health Organization and the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office to monitor respiratory infections with influenza virus and other respiratory infections, including the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome virus."
She added that the National Reference Laboratory for Viral Haemorrhage Fever Surveillance, which is responsible for the detection of Crimean-Congo haemorrhage fever, Dengue Haemorrhage Disease and Rift Valley Fever (RVF), contributed to monitoring the spread of dengue fever in a number of affected governorates in the Sultanate of Oman. She also pointed out that the Central Public Health Laboratories also houses a reference laboratory for tests for surveillance of AIDS and acute viral hepatitis diseases, as well as rare and emerging diseases such as monkey pox. Dr. Hanan explained that public health laboratories are concerned with providing quality testing services in medical laboratories in the Sultanate of Oman and the Eastern Mediterranean Region by organising the External Quality Assessment Scheme (EQAS). The laboratories also provide many training programmes for national staff, as well as staff at the Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO) on joint programmes, in conjunction with the World Health Organization (WHO). She said that at the national level, the laboratory participates in the Microbiology Training Programme of Oman Medical Specialty Board (OMSB) to train resident physicians in virology, bacteriology, tuberculosis and malaria.
The laboratory recently monitored the outbreak of several cases of polio in Yemen and provides continuous services in this field. In 2006, the regional and national reference laboratory for measles, mumps and rubella was accredited by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO). This laboratory monitors fever and rashes caused by measles, rubella and mumps viruses.
The GCC Health Council hailed the achievement of the Ministry of Health in the Sultanate of Oman, after the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the selection of the Central Public Health Laboratories in the Sultanate of Oman as a cooperating centre in the field of emerging and novel communicable diseases. This laboratory is the first of its kind at the level of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. This selection also represents a new addition to the record of the achievements of Oman’s Ministry of Health.
The rapid development in the field of modern medicine, pharmaceutical sciences, biotechnology, and vaccine production techniques has led to many achievements in the field of infectious diseases that include the eradication of smallpox, the decline of infectious diseases, and the eradication of many of them in some countries. However, due to population growth, urban expansion, and the development of means of transportation, in addition to the increase in interaction between humans and animals, the world has witnessed an increase in the incidence of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, and their spread across borders, making them one of the main causes of death worldwide. Early detection of these diseases, which pose a threat to health, requires laboratories operating with appropriate levels of bio safety and have the ability to provide accurate diagnoses of emerging viral and bacterial pathogens. Further, the successful detection, characterisation and tracing of these diseases require an effective system of public health laboratories, not only at the local and national levels, but also at the regional and international levels. — ONA
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