Kaizenlog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No. 0391

 

 

SPEECH BY THE HON. LOUIS DEGUARA, MINISTER OF HEALTH, THE ELDERLY AND COMMUNITY CARE ON THE INAUGURATION OF THE PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY - VALLETTA - 28^TH FEBRUARY 2008

 

 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to welcome you all to this inauguration ceremony of the Public Health Laboratory and to the presentation of certificates to Health Ministry officials trained with EU funded expertise.

The Public Health Laboratory has for many years now served as the diagnostic back bone of the regulatory responsibilities of the Health Division.  It consists of chemistry and a microbiology section which provide the necessary laboratory backup for the investigation and monitoring of communicable diseases and risk factors.  The need to upgrade the service provided by the Public Health Laboratory has been felt for a number of years. This need became even more evident upon applying for EU membership whereby commitments related to accreditation of laboratory analysis and techniques as well as specialisation of staff training had to be scrupulously met.

A holistic project was thus penned. The overall objective was to have the Department of Public Health (now the Environmental Health Department) in a position to carry out HACCP Auditing of the food industry and chemical and microbiological monitoring of the food and water supply in conformity with the national and EU legislation.  The project included the refurbishment of the Public Health Laboratories to a state of the art facility with a target to meet the very high standards necessary for the laboratory to have its analytic techniques accredited.

As a direct result of Malta’s application to join the European Union, this project benefited from EU funding through the 2004 Transition Facility Programme. These funds exceeded a million euro. While Government committed itself to finance the structural refurbishment of the Laboratory, the equipment you will see, equipment utilising the latest technology on the market, was financed through the allocated EU Funds.  We can now boast of a state of the art laboratory capable to meet both chemical as well as microbiological commitments and analysis of the highest standards.  I am proud to announce today that the Public Health Laboratory is now an accredited laboratory for a number of tests and can function as a reference laboratory within the context of EU and National legislation. We will continue to work to achieve accreditation for a wider variety of tests.

Having a refurbished laboratory with state of the art equipment and facilities is not enough.  For a Public Health Laboratory to function and achieve the accreditation mentioned requires trained personnel.  In line with my Government’s policy to invest in human resources, initiatives were taken to ensure that our laboratory staff is trained to achieve the required skills.  A further €400,000 (Lm171,720) of EU funds were secured to enter into a Twinning project with the Central Science Laboratory of the UK to train laboratory staff in the latest methodologies.  It is with great pleasure today to welcome amongst us Professor John Gilbert, Project leader for this Twinning Project and Science Director on Food of the Central Science Laboratory of York in the UK. His experience and expertise in this area and the expertise of the Short Term Experts he brought over to deliver the training yielded very satisfactory results.  I thank him, his team and his organisation for the commitment and valid work put into this initiative

The end result of all this investment and effort is that we are now in a position to carry out chemical and microbiological monitoring of food and water in line with European standards.  To complement our laboratory capabilities, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland were sub-contracted to deliver specialised training to our Health Inspectors specifically in HACCP Audit such that Malta is now fully equipped to effectively audit the food industry.  With pleasure I therefore also welcome amongst us Mr. Ray Ellard, Director Audit and Compliance of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland. Through this twinning, all health inspectors were trained in HACCP Auditing and 21 health inspectors had the opportunity to have hands on specialised training in HACCP Auditing and Food Safety Management System auditing including a week on site visit to Ireland.  Our thanks and appreciation goes also to our Irish partners.

In conclusion may I thank all those who in various ways have contributed to the achievement of these goals and to the success of this project.  A special thanks goes to all the laboratory employees who throughout the period have overcome all the difficulties, participated with great commitment in the training, worked hard to develop the necessary quality systems and standards to achieve accreditation. They still managed admirably throughout all this while continuing to provide a sterling service.  It is thus with great pleasure to declare this refurbished and now accredited Public Health Laboratory officially open.

DOI - 29.02.2008

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