Kampala — Health minister Dr. Stephen Mallinga has called for quality laboratory services. "Laboratory services play an important role in supporting clinical management of patients, as well as early detection and management of disease outbreaks," Mallinga stated.

He was opening a workshop on laboratory accreditation (classification) at Lake Victoria Serena Resort Hotel on Tuesday. Over 60 public health experts and policy makers from Ethiopia, Rwanda, Kenya and Tanzania attended the workshop.

The minister said the Government had taken measures to strengthen laboratory services. "We have been able to develop and launch the National Health Laboratory Policy to provide guidance and direction on how laboratory services should be delivered in the country," Mallinga stated.

He said with the policy in place, provisions had been made to establish a laboratory classification system to pave way for quality service delivery.