The importance of Medical Labs Accreditation is increasing every day in this era of technological advancements and competition in the healthcare service sector. It is in the interest of the patients, the doctors, the society and the government that the medical laboratories operate at high standards of professional and technical competence for the reason that diagnosis and treatment of patients is based on the results and interpretations of laboratory tests. Accreditation of medical labs in accordance to ISO 15189 standards is the only means to assure credibility of such labs. Through accreditation the lab demonstrate that it produces valid results as per requirements of the standard. The credibility of accredited lab adds benefit both to the patients and the doctors & also contributes immensely towards improvement of overall health care delivery system.
Medical practitioners make decision on the basis of test results produced by labs. Some times these decisions are matters of life. It is the process of accreditation which involves periodic review of the labs through professionals in accordance with the international standard.
Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) is responsible for accreditation of Medical labs. PNAC is a member of the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) & Asian Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC), the relevant international & regional apex bodies. PNAC adopts international standard and guidelines in assessment of such labs, through qualified competent and appropriately trained professionals in their relevant discipline. PNAC has launched accreditation scheme for medical labs, after initially creating awareness among the pathologists and lab managers to build capacity of accreditation assessment. PNAC has conducted many seminars and workshops throughout the country for creating awareness among the stakeholders. About Forty Pathologists & lab managers have been trained as technical Expert/assessors on the relevant ISO standard. As accreditation is quite new & emerging field, lot of efforts has been made to create awareness among the labs & other stakeholders about importance of accreditation. Training programs have been also conducted to developed pool of experts for running accreditation schemes as per requirements of the International Standard.
The accreditation with PNAC establishes the international recognition of Medical Labs and also promotes quality culture; in the health care system. PNAC have also signed a MoU with stake holders in order to jointly coordinate and promote the accreditation of medical labs.
It is believed that accreditation of Medical Labs will further contribute to improve the quality culture in the health sector of Pakistan having a direct impact on the common man.
Ateeq-Ur-Rehman, Director (Medical Labs), Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), Islamabad