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Mbrarara, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital Laboratory has been accredited by the South African National Accreditation System to international standards.
The accreditation provides a means of evaluating the competence of laboratories to perform specific types of testing, measurement, and calibration and that the facility has a documented Management System in place to ensure consistent implementation of its processes. It is purposed to ensure that quality laboratory results are given to patients.
The laboratory received accreditation based on its qualified equipment, including the Bio Base that rapidly extracts viral DNA or RNA from various types of body fluids, the Roto Fix incubators used for routine lab applications, and the GeneXpert machine which can detect multi-resistant tuberculosis and anti-biotics resistance in one hour.
Dr Celestine Barigye the Hospital Director said that the journey to accreditation started in 2013 with support from the Eastern Africa Public Health Laboratory Network Project under the Stepwise Laboratory Improvement Process Towards Accreditation Program.
Dr. Robert Wagubi the head of clinical laboratories at Mbarara Hospital said that the laboratory will now carry out 11 tests that are categorized under Haematology, Molecular biology, Bacteriology, Serology, and Mycobacteriology, which will be accepted worldwide.
Dr Richard Wanock, the Laboratory Quality Manager says that the accreditation of the laboratory will offer effective services since the results will be released in a short time.
Halson Kagure the Hospital head of Communication said that the accreditation of the laboratory is in line with the National Hospital Policy that aims to provide equitable access to cost-effective hospital services for all people in Uganda.
The other hospital laboratories that have in the past been accredited internationally include Entebbe, Fort Portal, Jinja, Makerere University Microbiology Laboratory, Moroto Regional Referral Hospital Laboratory, and Mulago National Referral Hospital.
SANAS is recognized by the South African Government as the single National Accreditation Body that gives formal recognition that Laboratories, Certification Bodies, Inspection Bodies, Proficiency Testing Scheme Providers, and Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) test facilities are competent to carry out specific tasks.
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