Covid-19 epidemic has caused a major public health crisis in years between 2019 and 2022 all around the world. A key part of preventing the spread of infection is detecting and isolating infected patients and providing medical care, which requires an effective network of SARS-CoV-2 microbiological testing providers and lists of appropriate in vitro diagnostic medical devices for different uses. The aim of the Master's thesis was to analyse the changing regulation in the field of laboratory medicine in the Republic of Slovenia during the epidemic.
The systematic review of the adopted regulation in Slovenia was carried out using the keywords related to legal acts (law, rule book, decree and directive) and testing (in vitro diagnostic medical device, covid and SARS-CoV-2) with the help of web browsers or sites with built-in search engines: Google, Pravno informacijski sistem, Uradni list Republike Slovenije, Ministrstvo za zdravje, Javna agencija za zdravila in medicinske pripomočke, Nacionalni inštitut za javno zdravje. The collected results were evaluated numerically per website, in terms of content and time.
In total, 27 pieces of legislation have been adopted at all legislative levels that have had an impact on the conditions for SARS-CoV-2 testing. In years between 2019 and 2021, the transition period from the European Medical Devices Directive to the European Regulation on In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices has also come to an end. Four intervention health laws were adopted. Health Care Act and the Infectious Diseases Act were amended or supplemented, providing the basis for a number of sub-legislative acts.
Legal acts were passed under time pressure and in abbreviated procedures, due to the increased need for diagnostic testing, which is also reflected in the partial inconsistencies of the acts in force during this period. The legal acts that were passed did not meet the quality requirements introduced in the field of laboratory medicine by the Regulation on the conditions to be met by laboratories for carrying out tests in the field of laboratory medicine, based on the requirements of ISO 15189:2012 Medical laboratories - Requirements for quality and competence.
With the lessons learned from the epidemic, we can prepare adequately and in a planned way for emergencies that may befall us in the future. In any case, we must not allow the reliability of the results or the safety of patients and health professionals to be compromised.
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