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Local laboratories working toward ISO accreditation

Nov 24, 2009 News

Laboratories across Guyana are a step closer to delivering foolproof results, thanks to the efforts of a local entity and a regional organisation.
The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) in collaboration with the Caribbean Laboratories Accreditation Service (CLAS) yesterday convened a two-day training workshop aimed at training laboratory technicians throughout Guyana, on a new ‘twenty milestone’ approach toward standard developments.
The approach which was developed by Manfred Kindler, a German national, uses a computer programme that helps the technicians execute their duties.
Addressing the participants at the opening of the workshop, Head of GNBS Conformity Assessment Department, Candelle Walcott-Bostwick, underscored the importance of accuracy in laboratory testing.
She said that accreditation of laboratories will ensure recognition of competency and a greater degree of trust and respect towards such service providers.
Bostwick said that the workshop provides the perfect platform for the development and implementation of an action plan among labs throughout the country.
She believes that achieving full International Standard Organisation (ISO) guidelines, local labs will ensure international recognition bringing them on par with those internationally.
She said that while there are both medical and non medical laboratories participating in the workshop, the training they will require will not differ greatly. Bostwick said that currently there are seven laboratories in Guyana that have met the GNBS standards, noting that this is the first step towards the ISO 17025 standard.
She reminded the gathering of the importance of such a move since it can easily mean the difference between a correct and incorrect result that can have far reaching consequences.
Bostwick is hopeful that at least three laboratories will be ISO certified within the next 18 months.
She said that such standardisation is necessary for trade and economic development. Currently, there is no testing facility in Guyana that has met the ISO’s standards.
Additionally, ISO accredited facilities will ensure there is no need for retesting and re-examination of already tested items. She said the time for action has come, calling on laboratories not to wait until a batch of produce is returned to Guyana for want of proper testing, or the wrong result going to a patient, since all of these ill effects have implications for the country.
Project Co-ordinator of CLAS, Giselle Guevara, told the participants of the importance of churning out unquestionable results in laboratories, since they are sure to develop a loyal clientele.
She said that internationally it has been proven that the quality system actually makes a very large difference in the overall operations of the laboratory and by extension how the country develops. Impressing the importance of accuracy in labs, Guevara said that should a laboratory be 99.9 percent accurate in the delivery of it’s work, the 0.1 percent inaccuracy, although it may seem minuscule, may have catastrophic implications.
To reinforce this point she said that the 0.1 percent can mean twelve new born babies given to the wrong parents daily, or 2.5 million books shipped to the wrong orders, 888,000 credit cards in circulation having the wrong information on the strip or further a field, 25,000 Canadians will suffer from a hospital error. She said that it should be noted that errors in laboratories can lead to death and they should be fully eradicated since the inaccuracy can mean the death of a family member or a friend.
It is to this end that she has endorsed the workshop since she believes that the ‘twenty milestones’ approach that is being championed will ensure the timely detection of errors which can save lives. She said that the amount and the competency of laboratory staffs become irrelevant if the proper systems are not implemented.
Some of the agencies participating in the workshop are IAST, Sigma Labs, GRDB, and Banks DIH among others.
(Brushell Blackman)

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