The Ministry of Health has set up a specialized medical laboratory in Madinah as part of the Ministry’s public health preparedness program for MERS coronavirus.

According to Mohammad Qutb, director of Laboratory and Diagnostics Platform at the Command and Control Center (CCC) in the Ministry of Health, the new facility was established on the directives of acting Health Minister Adel Fakeih.

MERS has killed 343 people in the Kingdom out of 806 infected since 2012.

“The laboratory is able to deliver results in record time, examining and identifying samples within six hours, down from 24 hours because earlier the samples had to be sent to the Jeddah Regional Laboratory for testing,” he said.

The laboratory was developed on the recommendation of a committee comprising Saudi and international experts commissioned to assess the previous laboratory following the MERS-CoV outbreak. The laboratory was established in cooperation with several international and other specialized organizations.

Equipped with the latest technology, the laboratory provides fast and accurate results and allows for comprehensive examination of MERS-CoV and other respiratory viruses, in addition to processing patients suspected with hepatitis (B and C) and HIV.

All instruments used in the laboratory, including the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR), have been thoroughly evaluated by the Ministry, which checked the accuracy of tests and output by comparing examination results from other regional laboratories to confirm quality according to international standards and specifications. The laboratory replaces the mobile laboratory rented from King Abdulaziz University, which served the general public in Madinah during the construction of the new laboratory in the city.

According to Qutb, the mobile lab, which supported hospitals and pilgrims in Arafat during Haj, is currently in Taif, where it is assisting in the epidemiological surveillance and sampling of suspected MERS-CoV cases.

Labor Minister Fakeih, who took over as acting health minister early this year, adopted several preventive measures to control the spread of the virus. Besides launching a national awareness campaign on coronavirus in Jeddah recently, he also appointed competent officials to handle various offices to combat the disease.