The National Reference Laboratory (NRL) has announced the successful completion and operation of an interface project linking its Laboratory Information Systems to 'Salama', a new Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system launched by the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) in April this year, which will result in the provision of a faster and more effective treatment of patients.

Salama is an integrated electronic medical record system across DHA’s network and includes information related to patients’ medical history and treatment information, and is available to DHA’s physicians at the click of a button.

Through the bi-directional real-time interface connecting DHA and NRL (which is part of Mubadala Investment Company’s network of world-class healthcare providers), Dubai Health Authority physicians will now have access to NRL’s menu of sophisticated testing solutions, allowing doctors to automatically send test orders to NRL, and for test results performed by NRL to be sent and stored in each patient’s unique EMR. Since 70% of diagnostic decisions are informed by laboratory test results, this initiative is expected to enhance medical care provided to DHA patients.

"The Salama Project, the first of its kind in the Middle East region, is a comprehensive electronic system applied in all DHA healthcare facilities, including hospitals, primary healthcare, medical fitness centres, and specialised centres. The project creates a uniform individual e-record of an individual patient’s medical information, enabling the physician to easily obtain the patient’s file, regardless of where the patient was last treated within the DHA network," said Humaid Al Qatami, Board Chairman and Director-General of DHA.