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Minister of Health Faiqa Al-Saleh affirmed the effort to complete the second-phase samples of the National Genome Project by the end of the current year.
Minister of Health Faeqa bint Saeed Al Saleh affirmed that the National Genome Center was inaugurated in implementation of the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister, stressing the Ministry of Health's keenness to implement these directives given the contribution this center will make to preventing genetic diseases and developing effective preventive and therapeutic strategies.
In the context of the esteemed government's support for innovative health sciences in the field of genomics and genetic diseases facing Bahraini society, and stemming from its keenness to raise the quality of health services and prevent diseases, particularly hereditary, intractable, and fatal diseases, while adopting the latest innovative scientific methods through establishing a specialized center for gene analysis, the National Genome Center continues its work in contributing to the prevention of genetic diseases and the development of effective medications to treat them, which helps provide a healthy life and disease prevention for current and future generations.
The Minister of Health added that the specialized team has made great strides to date, having accomplished a number of tasks represented in completing the designated number for the first phase of the project, amounting to 6,000 samples, including 2,000 samples from those affected by rare diseases and their relatives, and 4,000 additional samples from other participants. She indicated that it is hoped that the remaining targeted samples for the second phase of the project plan will be completed by the end of this year, in addition to the genome project team overseeing several studies related to the coronavirus (COVID-19) genome and the genome of those infected to identify genes related to the severity of infection.
She said that the National Genome Center will contribute to the prevention of genetic diseases and the development of effective preventive and therapeutic strategies, which will help provide a disease-free, healthy life for current and future generations, affirming the Ministry of Health's commitment to implementing the plans set out with the aim of increasing the pace of progress in this field, which will be reflected in achieving more developmental accomplishments for the Kingdom and its citizens. She also highlighted the recommendations regarding the National Genome Center, which aims to collect 50,000 samples over five years and establish a comprehensive national database, with the goal of improving quality and continuing to adopt modern health technologies that will help with diagnosis and developing innovative solutions for citizens.
The National Genome Center invited the esteemed public to participate in the National Genome Project by donating blood samples at health centers for genetic study. Should there be any questions or inquiries, please contact via email at .
