This week the American Society for Clinical Pathology is celebrating Medical Laboratory Professionals Week with the theme “Laboratory Professionals Get Results”.

As a member of this society, every year through the medium of this newspaper I take the opportunity to pay tribute to all Maltese laboratorians. These professionals give service in Malta’s hospitals and clinical laboratories as part of the health care team. Their work involves analysis of body fluids and tissues, the results of which facilitate the diagnosis and treatment of various disease states.

On April 13 I was pleased to attend the First Applied Biomedical Science Meeting celebrating the 20th anniversary since the training for the profession of medical laboratorians (biomedical scientists) was upgraded to a university degree. The meeting, jointly organised by the Faculty of Health Sciences (University of Malta) and the Pathology Department (Mater Dei Hospital), served as a showcase for the profession with delivery of presentations highlighting the various analytical procedures and research being carried out. The advances made in the training of the personnel and the testing procedures augur well for the diagnosis and treatment of our patients.

I hope that this event locally becomes an annual event in recognition of the contribution given by these dedicated professionals.