Today, Riyadh Health Affairs has closed one of the private medical laboratories accredited to conduct COVID-19 Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) tests for those wishing to travel outside the Kingdom.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) stated that it has monitored medical samples that were transferred in a random way. Then, they were seized and their default track were traced. Through this tracking, a number of violations have been monitored at the above-mentioned laboratory in Riyadh. Some negative COVID-19 test results for those samples were seized, deposit they did not reach the laboratory. Also, deficiencies were detected in compliance with precautionary measures and infection control, let alone the laboratory contracted with a large number of medical institutions; thus receiving a daily number of samples that exceeded its capacity; resulting in a number of other violations that necessitated the precautionary closure of the laboratory, until a final decision to be issued on its case by the competent committees.
According to MOH, the laboratory faces legal penalties, represented in financial fines, its license revocation, as well as prevention of licensing for two years, in addition to its closure.
It is noteworthy that MOH pays great attention to monitoring and inspection to ensure the compliance with laws and regulations for maintaining the safety and security of service provided to beneficiaries. This is achieved through periodic inspection tours conducted by MOH Compliance Teams across the Kingdom. They visit all targeted laboratories daily, highlighting that MOH interacts with and considers any community members’ reports submitted through 937-Service Center. Hence, MOH has called upon all health institutions, especially medical laboratories during the pandemic, to fully comply with all health regulations, underlining that all necessary corrective measures will be taken to address, and penalties will be applied on any deficiencies detected in the health sector.