Rohit Shishodia
The National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) has launched a Quality Assurance Scheme (QAS), a voluntary scheme for Basic Composite (BC) Medical Laboratories (Entry Level) to sensitize small laboratories to adopt basic doable quality practices.

NABL is a constituent board of Quality Council of India (QCI) that works under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

A Commerce and Industry Ministry’s press release reads that laboratories performing basic routine tests like BP, blood count, LFT and urine can apply under this scheme.

The QAS is expected to help bring quality at the grass root level of India’s health system where laboratories follow the imperatives of quality in all their processes. The patients will also get quality lab results after laboratories adopt the scheme. This scheme will inculcate the habit of quality and facilitate the laboratories to achieve benchmark accreditation of ISO 15189 over a period of time.

The information on the scheme can be sought on the NABL website. The NABL will issue certificate of compliance of QAS BC to successful laboratories. The NABL will also allow laboratories to use a distinct symbol on the test reports as a mark of endorsement to the basic standard for a defined time frame before which they will have to transition to full accreditation as per ISO 15189.

The NABL will organize awareness programs for small labs to familiarize and encourage them for the scheme. The QAS requires minimal documentation and a nominal fee for availing the scheme. Components of competence assessment have been added for assuring quality and validity of test results.