The Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS) says its certification programme for clinical laboratories will see ten new laboratories certified this year.
In a press release the GNBS said the 14 participants in the clinics for the national standard “GYS 170:2003 General requirements for the operations of a laboratory” are being trained in laboratory management. The workshop, which targets laboratory managers and supervisors, sets out to address the needs of testing laboratories with the aim of facilitating improvements in the development and implementation of a laboratory management system that will ensure accurate, reliable and consistent test results are issued to clients. The GNBS said Head of the Conformity Assessment Department Candelle Walcott Bostwick is conducting the course with laboratory workers from the St Joseph Mercy Hospital, the Dr Balwant Singh Hospital, Images Diagnostic Centre, Multi-Tec Reference Laboratory, the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association, the Eureka Medical Laboratory (EML), the Guyana Defence Force and the Central Medical Laboratory (CML) at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation.
At the close of the session, participants are expected to be able to develop a quality manual and associated procedures for the quality system, develop and implement a quality management system that meets the standard’s requirements and outline procedures for ensuring that the laboratory provides accurate, reliable and consistent test results. The GNBS said only three laboratories: the CML, Dr Balwant Singh Hospital and the EML have been certified and it anticipates that ten more will be certified this year.
The GNBS said the Ministry of Health supports the certification programme. The session, which started on Monday, concludes today.