College of American Pathologists Accredits the First Laboratory in Pakistan

The College of American Pathologists (CAP), an internationally recognized standard for clinical laboratories, has accredited the Aga Khan University Hospital’s Clinical Laboratories – the first laboratory in Pakistan.

CAP has 3000 requirements, making accreditation a severe procedure. A team of nine CAP trained inspectors visited Pakistan last year to audit the laboratory’s quality records, staff qualifications, validation of tests, equipment, facilities, safety programs and overall management.

AKUH is also the only teaching hospital in Pakistan that is accredited by the Joint Commission International, a gold standard in healthcare delivery.

“The CAP accreditation is an attestation that AKUH Clinical Laboratories has achieved the gold standard in laboratory medicine,” said Shagufta Hassan, Chief Operating Officer, Clinical Laboratories and Outreach Services. “AKUH Clinical Laboratories has always applied the highest standards of quality and this certification is a manifestation of the same.”

In the debriefing following the audit, CAP inspectors stated how impressed they were with the standards already applied. CAP President Richard C. Friedberg congratulated Aga Khan University Hospital for being the first CAP accredited laboratory in Pakistan in his message to the hospital community.

AKUH Clinical Laboratories is the largest laboratory network in Pakistan. Besides the main clinical laboratory in Karachi, there are 250 regional laboratories, medical centers and specimen collection units in over 100 cities around the country. The laboratories offer over 700 types of testing, and an estimated 10 million tests are conducted annually.

The U.S. federal government recognizes the CAP Laboratory Accreditation Program, begun in the early 1960s, as being equal-to or more-stringent-than the U.S. government’s own inspection program.

As the leading organization with over 18,000 board-certified pathologists, CAP serves patients, pathologists, and the public by fostering and advocating excellence in the practice of pathology and laboratory medicine worldwide. The CAP’s Laboratory Improvement Programs currently has presence in more than 100 countries, accrediting nearly 8,000 laboratories and providing proficiency testing to 20,000 laboratories worldwide.