A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are done on clinical specimens in order to get information about the health of a patient as pertaining to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease.

Laboratory medicine is generally divided into two sections, and each of which is further divided into a number of units. These two sections are:

• Anatomic Pathology: units included here are histopathology, cytopathology, and electron microscopy Academically, each unit is studied alone in one course. Other courses pertaining to this section include anatomy, physiology, histology, pathology and pathophysiology.

• Clinical pathology including :

  • Clinical Microbiology: This encompasses five different sciences (units). These include bacteriology, virology, immunology and mycology.

  • Clinical Chemistry: Units under this busy section include instrumental analysis of blood components, enzymology, toxicology and endocrinology.

  • Hematology: This section consists of automated and manual analysis of blood cells. It includes two subunits, which are coagulation and blood bank.

  • Genetics is also studied along with a subspecialty known as cytogenetics.

  • Reproductive biology:  Sperm bank and assisted reproductive technology.

Distribution of clinical laboratories in health institutions varies greatly from one place to another. Take for example microbiology, some health facilities have a single laboratory for microbiology, while others have a separate lab for each unit, with nothing called a "microbiology" lab.