The ManicaPost
CIMAS Medical Laboratories Harare, which has become the first medical laboratory in Zimbabwe to attain ISO 15189 accreditation, the international standard for medical laboratories, was formally presented with its accreditation certificate last Friday.
Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa and Southern African Development Community Accreditation Services (SADCAS) chief executive, Ms Maureen Mutasa jointly presented the certificate to Cimas Medical Services managing director, Mr Mafingei Nyamwanza.
Congratulating Cimas on attaining the ISO 15189 Accreditation, Dr Parirenyatwa praised the staff and management at Cimas Medical Laboratories for their hard work and commitment.
“Indeed this is a living example of hard work and commitment by staff and management of Cimas Medical Laboratories.
“The road to ISO 15189 Accreditation is long but the results are rewarding,” he said.
He said the attainment of ISO 15189 Accreditation by Cimas Medical Laboratories within a record 10 months from the time of its application to SADCAS indicated that accreditation is achievable if both management and staff are dedicated and committed.
SADCAS is an accreditation body that provides internationally recognised accreditation services for SADC member states.
Dr Parirenyatwa said the medical laboratories accreditation gave confidence to clinicians and credibility to test results.
“ISO 15189 Accreditation by medical laboratories in Zimbabwe will give confidence to clinicians for accurate diagnosis and management of diseases for the practice of evidence based medicine that can be benchmarked to international standards and to our people that they are receiving the best possible service.
“The accreditation status for medical laboratories also assures other institutions, such as research (institutions), and the international community that test results are credible, hence they can partner with us in making further advances in medicine,” he said.
“My ministry is satisfied that as a country, although we experienced a mass exodus of skills in recent years, we still have the skills and expertise to make inroads into new territories in medical care,” he said, pointing to the recent separation of Siamese twins at Harare Hospital as an example of what local health professionals could achieve.
“The attainment of accreditation by Cimas Medical Laboratories also raises the standard of laboratory services to international status,” he said.
Although it only took Cimas Medical Laboratories a record 10 months to achieve accreditation from the time it applied to SADCAS for it, the process of achieving it began in 2011.
It involved training, strengthening of laboratory management, comparing observed practice with the standard and implementing changes to conform to the standard.
It also involved looking at non-conformances, carrying out root cause analysis and implementing corrective action to conform to the set quality management system.
Adding her congratulations to Cimas for its achievement, SADCAS chief executive Ms Mutasa warned the Medical Services Division that it was important for Cimas Medical Laboratories to maintain their standards, or risk losing the accreditation.
“I would like to say congratulations for this noble achievement and well done for the achievement.
But remember that SADCAS will undertake periodic surveillance assessments throughout the validity period of the certificate in order for you to maintain the accreditation,” she said.
Cimas Medical Laboratories falls under the Medical Services Division of the Cimas Group which is one of the biggest medical providers around.
It is responsible for assisting doctors 24 hours round the clock with diagnosis and management of diseases through carrying out laboratory tests on samples from patients.
The Cimas Medical Laboratories Harare has state-of-the-art equipment and offers a wide test profile of routine and specialised tests.
