PGIMS lab gets national accreditation

Rohtak July 10

The HIV testing lab being run at Department of Microbiology at the PGIMS here has got accreditation from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL).

Dr Aparna Parmar, Head of Department, claimed this was the first government HIV testing lab in the state to get NABL accreditation. “The NABL’s objective is to provide third party evaluation of the quality and technical capability of testing laboratories. The NABL accreditation provides the facility of acceptance of results at the national as well as international level,” she added.

Dr Ritu Aggarwal, lab incharge-cum-nodal officer, said the HIV lab provided services to the patients by following NACO guidelines. “Our staff had been toiling hard for the past one year to get the NABL accreditation, which included preparation of Standard Operating Procedures, Quality System Procedures, Quality Manual, conducting equipment calibration, strict staff training, periodic skill assessment for improving staff technical performance and their skill upgradation,” she added.

She said the laboratory was evaluated onsite by the NABL team. All types of facilities, equipment, personnel and training processes were evaluated for two days. On the basis of the evaluation, the report was submitted to the NABL agency by the assessors and after that NABL accreditation was granted.

“Getting the NABL recognition means that this lab meets internationally approved quality standards and is capable of providing accurate, reliable and high quality test results. NABL has a mutual agreement with the International Laboratory Accreditation Association and the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Association. Along with this, the test results of this laboratory get International acceptance,” claimed Dr Ritu.