NRH laboratory receives SADCAS accreditation
Pini Bothoko | Thursday March 5, 2015 18:14
The hospital received the ccreditation certificate of Southern African Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS) on Tuesday at Adansonia hotel.
Handing over the certificate SADCAS Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Maureen Mutasa said that NHR laboratory is the first medical laboratory in Botswana to be accredited by SADCAS.
She said SADCAS is a multi-economy accreditation body established to meet the accreditation needs of SADC member states especially those without own national accreditation bodies.
Mutasa said that they are aware that there are six other medical laboratories in Botswana that are accredited by South African National Accreditation Systems (SANAS) and that two of the laboratories accredited by SANAS will change over to SADCAS.
She said that over the years and with challenges such as HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria, cholera and Ebola, there has been global rapid growth in the various branches of health care services.
“As part of growth laboratory diagnosis has gained tremendous importance in today’s practices.
“The competence and efficient operation of a medical laboratory and timeous delivery of medical laboratory services to the physician is critical in any healthcare delivery system,” said Mutasa.
She said the international standard ISO 15189 specifies the requirements for quality and competence particular to medical laboratories.
Mutasa said the Ministry of Health (MoH) put in place programmes to assist medical laboratories to implement ISO 15189.
She said SADCAS offers accreditation programmes for calibration, testing, medical laboratories, management systems, personnel certification and inspection bodies.
Mutasa said that the SADCAS medical laboratories accreditation programme was established in 2010 and is a multi- disciplinary accreditation programme operated in accordance with ISO/IEC 17011.
She said NHR laboratory has been accredited in the scopes of haematology, serology, blood bank, chemical pathology, parasitology, and bacteriology with the operation of a laboratory management system in accordance with ISO 15189.
“This is a guarantee for accurate and reliable results and a means of demonstrating competence to clients both internal and external.
“It also improves patient care and strengthens community confidence in results,” she said.
Mutasa reminded NHR that SADCAS would undertake periodic surveillance assessments throughout the validity period of the certificate in order for them to maintain the accreditation.
“We will not hesitate to suspend or withdraw this certificate if you do not maintain your system even though this certificate is valid for five years,” said Mutasa. Disclosing the hospital’s journey to accreditation, NHR laboratory Head Of Department Kelebeletse Mokobela said in Botswana the journey started back in 2002 when the MoH started actively implementing Quality Management Systems (QMS) in their laboratories.
“In NHR the journey to accreditation started in 2006 with the assistance of Botswana Bureau of Standards with the laboratory firstly developing and implementing policies and procedures in line with requirements of ISO 15189, the standard to which we are accredited,” said Mokobela.
She said the demand for timely, accurate and reliable results was called for in light of high demand for laboratory tests due to HIV pandemic and initiation of the ARV programme.
Mokobela said that high workload, inadequate staffing levels, inadequate infrastructure, lack of appreciation and understanding for QMS by both laboratory staff and management, overwhelmed the laboratories.