Bali– The Health Development Policy Agency (BKPK) of the Indonesian Ministry of Health (Kemenkes) is conducting training towards ISO 20387 Biobank. hybrid on 27-30 September 2023 in Nusa Dua Bali.
"Biobank as a place to store biological materials with various characteristics and types, needs to be maintained together. This is a big concept in supporting the implementation Biomedical & Genome Science Initiative (BGSi) towards precision medicine," said the Head of the Center for Health Resilience System Policy and Health Resources I Gede Wirabrata when opening the event.
BGSi innovation based on biobanking aims to change the mindset in the biomedical field towards effective and efficient treatment in the future. In organizing a biobank, there needs to be a reference guideline starting from best practice for biobank processing, Good Clinical Laboratory Practice (GCLP) up to ISO 20387.
This meeting aims to provide a better understanding of biobanks that refer to the ISO 20387 standard. In addition, it also provides knowledge, expertise and skills in implementing biobanks so that they can be appropriate and correct in accordance with international standards. This meeting is also expected to produce a common idea regarding biobanks.
BKPK as a national laboratory center has a fairly large biomedical material storage place. BKPK has two biobanks, namely the biorepository and the central biobank.
The Head of the BKPK Central Biobank, Kambang Sariaji, said that the biobank will be part of the support for clinical and research services. The biobank is strengthened through the network of hospitals in Indonesia. Furthermore, according to Kambang, the biobank is something new, so it needs to be socialized. The development of biobanks in Indonesia is extraordinary. Several faculties in universities already have biobanks that are used for further analysis in the future.
"Currently, biobank management refers to good clinical laboratory practice guidelines and other practice guidelines. Nationally, ISO 20387 on Biobank has not been included in the Indonesian National Standard, so there is no certification yet. Training meetings towards ISO 20378 will be a reference for managers in organizing biobanks according to international standards," said Kambang.
The training workshop meeting towards ISO 20387 biobank was attended by the head and members of the BGSi team, representatives from the Directorate of Health Service Governance of the Ministry of Health, representatives from vertical hospitals, representatives from the Health Laboratory Center and representatives from World Health Organization (WHO), and BKPK biobank managers. Also present were facilitators from various institutions, namely the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN), the Indonesian Biorisk Association (ABI), and BKPK. (Author Yuliana/Edit Timker KLI)
