Combating coronavirus: National Reference Lab opens new Covid-19 testing facility in Dubai

Abu Dhabi - The new lab is already accepting samples from hospitals and clinics across Dubai and the Northern Emirates.

Mubadala Healthcare's National Reference Laboratory (NRL) has opened its second Covid-19 testing facility in Dubai. It has also introduced an advanced virus-detection system and adopted new technology for delivering test results in record time.
Working closely with the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), the NRL constructed the new Covid-19 laboratory at its Dubai facilities in under three weeks. Having passed its DHA inspection, the new lab is already accepting samples from hospitals and clinics across Dubai and the Northern Emirates, and has a scalable infrastructure to allow for capacity to be ramped up to meet demand.
Abdul Hamid Oubeisi, chief executive officer of the NRL, said: "Our world-class Covid-19 laboratory in Abu Dhabi has already delivered more than 240,000 test results. Advanced equipment and a highly skilled scientific team are needed to process these results accurately within a quick time. Through knowledge-sharing and by leveraging the expertise already gained, the process of establishing a similar laboratory in Dubai proved seamless.
"The key motivation for our ongoing expansion is that we cannot simply react to situations like the pandemic. Instead, we must continually increase our knowledge and upgrade technology to support the community with its immediate needs, as well as beyond the pandemic," he added.
"We recently launched antibody testing to complement conventional Covid-19 testing, and we are also adopting two new forms of technology at our Abu Dhabi laboratory. The first enables us to deliver test results for infections within 45 minutes to three hours for critically ill patients, which increases efficiency in providing care for the most vulnerable segments of the UAE population. The second new technology is genomic sequencing, which has a multitude of public health benefits."
reporters@khaleejtimes.com 

• Dubai