Oman - Facilitation of the development of a National Laboratory Policy

Development of a National Laboratory Policy for Oman

Date: November 2022 - June 2023

Location: Oman

Client: World Health Organization Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean

Type of services:

Facilitated the development of Oman’s first National Laboratory Policy through structured stakeholder consultations, technical drafting support, and alignment with international laboratory system strengthening frameworks.

Report(s):

[31 May 2023] This week, DATOS’ expert Tjeerd Datema was in Muscat, Oman, to facilitate the second workshop on development of the National Laboratory Policy of the Sultanate of Oman. This project is jointly supported and organized by the WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean (EMRO) and WHO Oman.

A National Laboratory Policy is the cornerstone of sustainable and coordinated strengthening of the national laboratory system and network. In December 2022, the National Laboratory Working Group of Oman, consisting of 15 laboratory experts, started the process of developing the National Laboratory Policy of the Sultanate of Oman with a first workshop held in Muscat. This week a Policy Dialogue was held: the draft policy was presented to key stakeholders of Oman’s laboratory sector to collect their feedback and input to the policy, ensuring that the policy is broadly supported by all laboratory stakeholders throughout Oman. This feedback was subsequently processed into the final draft National Laboratory Policy, which will now be officially submitted to Oman’s government for endorsement.

After this, Oman will be one step closer towards realizing its vision of having a sustainable network of high-quality and state-of-the-art laboratory services that are harmonized and nationally coordinated under the One Health concept.

[5 Jan 2023] National Laboratory Policies are the cornerstone of sustainable and coordinated strengthening of national laboratory systems and networks. In December 2022, the National Laboratory Working Group consisting of 15 Omani laboratory experts started the process of developing a National Laboratory Policy for the Sultanate of Oman with a first workshop held in Muscat. 

DATOS’ Tjeerd Datema and Linda Oskam, together with WHO’s Raynal Squires, facilitated this workshop at the request of the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office  and WHO Oman. During this very interactive 5-day workshop a lot of ground was covered. The experts assessed the current situation of Oman’s laboratory system and network, identified Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats, developed a vision for the policy and formulated policy statements for three of the eleven policy topics that were identified. 

In the coming months we look forward to engaging with this very dedicated and motivated group of laboratory professionals to finalize the Oman National Laboratory Policy and start the policy dialogue process.

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