'Proud moment' for AKU, labs receive foreign accreditation across 8 cities

Karachi: Agha Khan's clinical laboratories receive the CAP (College of American Pathologists) accreditations across 8 cities in Pakistan. In AKU's journey to provide quality diagnostics, AKUH Main Campus has been re-accredited twice since its first-ever accreditation in 2017, and now 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, Outreach Labs serve the 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 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 the 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.”