No Accredited Lab in Pakistan

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[According to the Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP)there is No

Accredited Lab in Pakistan. What about the Lab accreditation procedure in India?

Does NACO or any other agency accredit HIV testing labs in the country?

Moderator]

Press Release

CRCP Survey Reveals No Accredited Lab in Pakistan

Islamabad: A survey conducted by Consumer Rights Commission of

Pakistan (CRCP) has unmasked the fact that there is not even a single

laboratory in Pakistan, which is accredited resulting in tremendous

losses of human lives, capital and infrastructure, most of which goes

undocumented. The lack of accredited labs gives way to unreliable

results without any inter-laboratory reliability of the results.

Some labs even fail to reproduce their own results.

The survey observed these results and information are used for

diagnosis of various diseases, quality assessment of products and

services. If the labs are not accredited, their results may lead to

tremendous losses of human lives, capital and infrastructure. This is

further unfortunate that comprehensive steps have not been taken to

document the losses, which occur due to provision of inaccurate and

unreliable results by pathological and industrial laboratories in the

country, the survey observed.

Revealing the findings of the survey, CRCP secretary general, Mian

Abrar said it was a sheer unfortunate that not a single laboratory is

accredited in Pakistan. This is true for even the National Institute

of Health (NIH) and Pakistan Council for Research in Water Resources

(PCRWR) laboratories, which are used as reference labs nation-wide.

As a result, consumers have to bear heavy costs.

Reflecting on the consequences of not having accredited laboratories,

he said, consumers become victim of unreliable results of

laboratories, which use non-validated methods, chemicals and

analytical tools. In case, measuring instruments and machines are

faulty or if there is a serious problem with calibration, the

resulting information would be undoubtedly unreliable. This not only

deprives the consumer from right to correct information but also

perpetuates in service providers negligence and insensitiveness to

citizen safety. One example is the Nishter Hospital tragedy, which

claimed four lives on count of using faulty machine for

anesthetization of the patients.

The survey noted that consumers knew little about the consequences of

unaccredited laboratories. It highlighted the relevance of consumers

and accreditation. Accreditation is one of the most effective means

to promote standardization and ultimately quality culture. If the

procedures and equipment of laboratories were not standardized, their

results would be inaccurate thereby jeopardizing the safety of

citizens.

The CRCP spokesperson emphasized that all consumers must be aware of

the concept and need of accreditation of labs. Explaining the

concept, he said accreditation is the process, which provides

independent evaluation of client according to requirements of the

applicable standards. On fulfilling the conditions laid down by the

authorized body, certification bodies, and testing & calibration

laboratories are entitled to get a certificate testimonial to their

competitiveness, and capability to produce valid results, products,

methods or services in their respective field.

CRCP general secretary highlighted the seminal role of Pakistan

National Accreditation Council (PNAC), which it could play in

accreditation of laboratories and eventually producing quality

culture in Pakistan. The survey recommended that the government

should expedite the process of accreditation by giving due heed to

constraints being faced by PNAC. It also emphasized upon the

consumers to demand quality products and services, which shall

subsequently lead to protection of their right to safety and accurate

information.

Mazhar Siraj

Research Fellow

Consumer Rights Commission of Pakistan (CRCP)

P.O.Box: 1379, Islamabad, Pakistan

Tell: 92-51-2854574 Fax: 2853616

email: crcp@...

Web: http://crcp.sdnpk.org

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