The current status and future of medical laboratory quality regulation and accreditation in Ghana

Abstract

High-quality and reliable laboratory services are important components of effective and well-function- ing health systems. Accurate, reliable and timely medical laboratory testing is crucial to patient care and disease surveillance. Unfortunately, in many sub-Saharan African countries, medical laboratory systems are adversely affec- ted by the unavailability of medical laboratories, poor laboratory infrastructure and lack of well-trained personnel (1). Quality in the laboratory is only achieved in a sys- tematic way through the implementation of a quality management system. The results of the study showed that approximately 60 % of the 78 respondents were unaware of the requirements of ISO 15189:2007. A trial of proficiency testing, termed 'blind proficiency testing', was carried out in which 19 laboratories determined the concentrations of urea and cholesterol in a proficiency testing material. Of the 19 laboratories that determined the concentration of urea, 63 % produced satisfactory results with scores between -2 and ?2. Similarly, 63 % of the participating laboratories obtained satisfactory z scores for cholesterol determination. Some of the laboratories that obtained sat- isfactory scores for urea determination had unsatisfactory scores for cholesterol determination and vice versa. It is recommended that the Ghanaian government pass a law and establish a standard to regulate medical laboratories in Ghana in order to improve quality in a significant way.