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 Aga Khan University Hospital’s Main Hospital Lab and Outreach Labs in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Faisalabad, Multan, Hyderabad and Sukkur are now all CAP-accredited, offering even greater confidence to our patients and their families to the highest level of trusted quality testing that AKUH offers and is known for.
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 institution,” adding that we have excellent leaders and teams of people, who work at our labs across the country; each one of them has played an integral role in this success.
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. “I want to highlight that it’s not the performance of one component, but different components which lead to success. From a healthcare perspective, we have to see how we can use our system,and play a role in reshaping the entire health system in the country.”
While addressing the audience, Dr Erum Khan, Chair, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine AKU, highlighted how AKUH has been a trendsetter in the quality and excellence of diagnostic services in Pakistan.
“It is a proud moment for us to receive the CAP accreditation; first for our Main Lab, and now for our regional outreach laboratories, which serves as a reflection of AKUH’s continued commitment to fostering the highest standards of diagnostic services that directly impact patient care and management.”
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At a post-audit summation ceremony held at AKU’s Stadium Road campus on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, the CAP team expressed their satisfaction and delight and commended the efforts of the people who were involved in maintaining the highest quality standards across our laboratories every day. While congratulating AKUH on achieving the CAP accreditation for the Outreach Labs, Dr Aaron Han, Chief Auditor CAP, 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.”
Appreciating the dedication of the teams involved, Dr Farooq Ghani, Director of CAP Accreditation at AKU, said, “70% of all clinical decisions regarding patient treatment and management are made based on lab results, AKUH was the first lab system in Pakistan to receive CAP accreditation in 2017.”
Our mission at AKU is to make high-quality diagnostics available throughout the country, Dr Ghani went on to add.This CAP-accredited level of quality testing is available across Pakistan to people from all walks of life; patient welfare support is offered to patients at over 240 locations across Pakistan. In addition, Zakat support to eligible and willing mustaheq is also offered at over 100 locations in the country.