Through the technical support from FHI 360 – Strengthening Integrated Delivery of HIV/AIDS Services (SIDHAS), the HMB Medical Laboratory Services got to appreciate Quality Management System (QMS) as the stepping stone to ISO 15189 accreditation. Interestingly, the Management immediately bought into the vision by making efforts to institute QMS in all the 12 FCT Hospitals’ laboratories. Basically, QMS helps to generate reliable, accurate and timely medical laboratory tests results

Key to QMS implementation and ISO 15189 accreditation is the need for some laboratory documents and records. To this end, the Quality Manual (which is the overall guiding document that defines the quality system through policies established by the laboratory), Laboratory Handbook (which helps to communicate the laboratory policies to clients) and some Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) were prepared.

With Management approval and support, Asokoro and Maitama District Hospitals plus Wuse Hospital have been nominated for ISO15189 accreditation. Good enough, CDC-Nigeria started using the above named three Hospitals’ Laboratories for Laboratory Assessors’ training. In view of this, CDC-Nigeria donated some vital documents which include the latest edition of the International Standard ISO15189: Medical Laboratories – Requirements for Quality and Competence. These documents in addition to the Quality Manual and Laboratory Handbook were recently officially handed over to the Medical Directors of Wuse General Hospital, Asokoro and Maitama District Hospitals. This means the journey to ISO15189 accreditation is progressing well!