Bos and Herzegovina opens new molecular diagnostics laboratory

Today, the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is more prepared to deal with health crises than it was at the beginning of the coronaviruses epidemic.

The presentation of the improved cold chain as one of the most important elements in the immunization process was highlighted at the opening ceremony of the laboratory for molecular diagnostics in the public health facilities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Mostar.

Marina Bera, assistant to the FBiH Minister of Health, stressed that the event is very significant from the point of view of public health.

The FBiH Institute for Public Health implemented two large projects in a very short time. We have also carried out two of these projects together with our partners, the UNICEF, UNDP and the European Union.

Thanks to our donors, we managed to reach a situation where almost all our cantons have at least one PCR machine, which allows the most modern diagnosis of covid 19 but also of other diseases, said Bera.

She said that the laboratory is of exceptional importance in the context of drafting a new law on the protection of the population from infectious diseases.

She added that the laboratory that is of exceptional importance in the context of drafting a new law on the protection of the population from infectious diseases.

Sini a Sko ibu i, director of the Institute of Public Health of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that the preliminary task of the new laboratory is to monitor the state of health, that is, to detect various pathogens and report them to the European Institute of Public Health.

When it comes to the current epidemiological situation, Sko ibu i stated that it is difficult to give a forecast of what will happen in the winter period when it comes to the coronaviruses.

On this occasion, the head of UNICEF representative office in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Rownak Khan, congratulated the Institute for Public Health of the FBiH on what she said was an extraordinary achievement.

We are glad to have been partners in the whole process, and that we were able to buy the equipment needed for the cold chain and these facilities that make it possible and that we visited today, together with USAID and the EU. We are trying to provide assistance to this country and we want to emphasize the vaccination of children. The vaccination rate for MMR has dropped from 80 to 60 percent, so we hope and ask for the help of the authorities in solving this problem, said Khan.

The regional director of the World Health Organization for the Europe region, Erwin Cooreman, stated that the importance of the laboratory for molecular diagnostics is of immense importance for public health.

Gianluca Vannini, head of the Operations Section for Social Development, Civil Society and Cross-Border Cooperation of the EU Delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that the European Union provided more than 20 million euros in aid for our country in the fight against the Pandemic.