Update of the Lao PDR National Plan for Laboratories

The National Policy for Public Health laboratories was endorsed by the MoH in August 2012. The key stakeholders already met during the workshops organized by the Mérieux Foundation in March and July 2022 to review and update the document before the official endorsement by the MoH. The policy is a statement of intent of  a system of principles to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes.

When this required process was completed, the Mérieux Foundation organized a workshop on August 30, 2022 to review the National Strategic Plan for laboratories established in 2013. The development of the national laboratory strategic plan will follow after the development of the national laboratory policy which is based on this strategic plan.  The strategic plan will provide the guidelines to modifiy the objectives for a laboratory system, as defined in the national laboratory policy, which then need to be transformed into the policy statements. The national laboratory strategic plan is thus the logical and essential next step after the development of a national laboratory policy.

The workshop brought together the key actors from the NCLE, the University of Health and Sciences, Institut Pasteur in Lao PDR, the Vientiane teaching hospitals and the National Blood Transfusion Center.

The discussions latest all day to review of the strategic plan with the participants working particularly on administrative management, QMS, Human Resources, capacity building, monitoring and supervision.

Dr. Thongchanh, the Mérieux Foundation consultant, in collaboration with the NCLE, will analyse the comments and suggestions made by the participants and produce a document which will be presented to a working group to validate the propositions before formal endorsement which is planned in November 2022.