AKUH’s regional laboratories receive CAP accreditation

• College of American Pathologists – Accreditations for more of AKUH’s Clinical Laboratories across Pakistan.
• First CAP accreditation in February 2017, the AKUH Main Campus has been re-accredited twice since.
• Now AKUH Outreach labs are also CAP accredited.

KARACHI: They say ‘Quality is a journey, not a destination.’ This is fully embodied in the DNA of the Aga Khan University Hospital, where Quality, as one of our four guiding principles, along with Relevance, Access and Impact, is constantly invested in and progressed upon.

The latest example of this is CAP – College of American Pathologists – Accreditations for more of AKUH’s Clinical Laboratories across Pakistan. In a journey that began long before our – and Pakistan’s – first CAP accreditation in February 2017, the AKUH Main Campus has been re-accredited twice since, and now our Outreach labs are also CAP accredited.

Outreach Labs are those lab facilities which are equipped to process routine clinical lab samples quickly, so patients can get rapid turnaround on their lab tests. In the AKUH Outreach Health Network, our Outreach Labs serve their home cities, as well as surrounding geographical regions. The same level of the highest quality of testing is offered across all 290+ AKUH lab facilities in Pakistan; CAP accreditations offer external endorsements of this fact.

With this latest accreditation round, the AKUH’s Main Hospital Lab and Outreach Labs in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad and Sukkur are now all CAP-accredited.

The accreditation certifies that AKUH’s clinical laboratories follow over 3,500 international standards to provide our patients with timely and accurate results every time, which is essential for timely disease diagnosis and treatment.

A team of three inspectors, Dr Aaron Han, Dr Stefan Weber and Ms Linana Seejan, who are practising professionals qualified through the CAP training programme – carried out the virtual and on-site audits of the AKUH Clinical Labs.

The audits comprised a comprehensive assessment of quality records, staff qualifications, validation of tests, equipment, facilities, safety programmes and overall management against 3,500+ indicators that were successfully met by AKUH Clinical Labs.

Congratulating all the teams involved in achieving this milestone, AKU President, Dr Sulaiman Shahbuddin, said, “Our lab network’s widespread impact throughout Pakistan has contributed to AKU becoming a national institutio.”

Dr Farhat Abbas, Interim CEO of AKU Health Services, Pakistan, while lauding the commitment, dedication and hard work of all the teams involved in the accreditation process, said that it is a great moment of pride and joy.

Dr Erum Khan highlighted how AKUH has been a trendsetter in the quality and excellence of diagnostic services in Pakistan.

Chief Auditor CAP Dr Aaron Han lauded the high-quality standards throughout AKUH’s lab network and said, “Your quality systems are very strong, and you have competent people who manage your labs. You are the leader of lab systems throughout Pakistan.”