The Dubai Health Authority (DHA) has introduced the latest laboratory diagnostic technology with the renovation and expansion of the Rashid Hospital trauma centre laboratory, pathology and genetics department.

 

Humaid Al Qutami, director-general of the DHA, toured the facility along with other officials. The newly renovated and expanded facility is in line with the vision and mission of the authority of transforming Dubai into a leading healthcare destination, said a Wam news agency report.

 

Dr Rania Medhat Seliem, consultant haematopathologist and head of the Rashid Hospital Pathology Laboratory, said the newly renovated trauma laboratory has a fully equipped phlebotomy area, electronically monitored area to receive samples, an automated state-of-the-art blood bank and a fully functional general laboratory.

 

The trauma centre laboratory provides accurate, quick, relevant results within 30 minutes from the receipt of a sample to all patients of the emergency department and inpatients of wards/ICUs.

 

"The general clinical pathology laboratory houses the first fully automated robotic system in DHA hospitals. The installed modular pre-analytical module is connected to the latest comprehensive clinical chemistry analysers, which can process up to 120 racks/hour or 600 samples/hour. The system is operated via two softwares, the Lab Information System and Infinity," Dr Seliem said, adding that the fully automated system has the ability to handle the increasing workload with minimal staff, and reduce delays in pre-analytical processing and eliminate sources of error in aliquoting samples.

 

The trauma centre laboratory also has the newly renovated and automated blood bank and transfusion services, enabling the blood bank to cater to the increasing demand of the growing population in Dubai.

 

The blood bank at the Rashid hospital laboratory is the sole provider of blood components for all cases of accidents and emergencies, issuing more than 11,500 units of different blood components yearly. The laboratory has acquired the most advanced smart technology and installed the latest analysers for fully automated blood-grouping and cross-matching.