15 Jul 2015

The Lab which is the first in the country to attain the standard was granted the accreditation by Southern Development Community Accreditation Service (SADCAS) following a meeting of Accreditation Approvals Committee held on the 25th June 2015.

A press release from Princes Marina hospital states that the ISO 15189:2012 standard is a revision of the ISO 15189:2007 standard.

It indicates that, there are a few laboratories in Botswana accredited under ISO 15189:2007 and they are all working on converting their processes to meet ISO 15189:2012.

The release says, the attainment of the ISO 15189:2012 is a clear message to customers that Princess Marina hospital is doing everything possible to give them the best service.
It says this is a statement of giving customer service that conforms to worldwide recognized quality standards.

Furthermore the release says, this is an assurance that customers will be given the Right result, on the Right patient, at the Right time and the Right cost, and all the processes go through regular scrutiny to ensure consistent achievement.

It is stated in the release that, the process of getting PMH Lab accredited started around mid-2007, and over the years there has been a huge investment of resources like staff training, equipment and resource procurement and investment in the infrastructure. The attainment of accreditation by PMH Lab is a proof that the huge investment has been a success

The release explains, the ISO 15189:2012 as a global initiative that aims at creating a standard measure of quality in medical laboratories.

It states that the standard has developed initiatives to promote competence and responsibility in medical laboratory processes, equipment and outcomes.

According to the press release, ISO 15189:2012 accreditation has been seen as a critical initiative towards harmonizing global practices in medical laboratories towards a common measure of quality assurance and safety.

It says the approach takes into account a lot of perspectives, including the interpretation of test results, the method patient samples are actually collected as well as the time required for the tests to be carried out.

The basic requirements for ISO 15189:2012 accreditation are, detailed evaluation reports of the existing quality management system as well as other monitoring and evaluation reports.
The other requirement noted in the release is a detail audit of management reviews as well as training manual provided by the laboratories.

It also requires an effective detailed analysis of medical laboratory procedures in a bid to make sure that all weaknesses have been identified, and a well-documented procedure analysis by the laboratories. Ends