Sharing the recent announcement from NABL on CABs.
There is a fast track focus at the market place to seek Certifications fast. This trend is more visible at the market place now. Fast tracking , resorting to various acts as listed in the announcement is not a healthy sign for the industry.
Certificates , Certifications are of no use, of no relevance when the users, payers, for the services don’t experience “the showcased Quality of Service”. There is a structure , methodology that needs to be followed while seeking Quality Systems Certifications.
The sudden rush for Certificates must be driving businesses to resort to unhealthy practices is what is understood from the notification !
Sharing this here to as information update for industry to take cognizance of the notification.
Prof. S.K. Joshi Laboratory Excellence Award from QCI NBQP
About The Award
Prof. S.K. Joshi – Laboratory Excellence Award has been instituted to promote Laboratory Quality and performance improvement in the country. The award has been incepted to ensure the laboratory’s commitment to achieve excellence in providing high precision testing and calibration services in line with the prevalent national/international quality systems legislations including Health, Safety, Environment (HSE).
The Award is to recognize Laboratories (Testing, Medical and Calibration) those have established outstanding achievements in the field of Quality in services and benchmarked in their domain for their best practices
1.This award is open to all currently operational Laboratories pertaining to Testing, Calibration & Medical including their Proficiency Testing Providers & Reference Material Producers located in India. 2.Participating labs are required to operate the applicable Quality System according to the requirements as stipulated in ISO 17025/ISO 15189/ISO 17043/ISO 17034, regarding its implementation and monitoring. 3. The award require labs to operate with proper HSE measures. 4.The Laboratory should not have been convicted by any Court. 5.A Laboratory once awarded can be considered only after a period of 3 Years
The 5 stages of assessment by Technical Expert Committee (TEC) are as follows:-
Stage 1: Application Document Evaluation Stage 2: Physical/Virtual Presentation Stage 3: Site Assessment / verification Stage 4: Evaluation through Reference check of customer in special case Stage 5: Inputs to Jury for final evaluation
The assessment of the application submitted by the laboratory is made on the basis of various parameters which have been identified by a team of experts from NBQP/QCI.
Primary Parameters:
Management Commitment – Qualification, Experience, Training & Innovation, Quality Improvement and skill upgradation.
Strategy – Accreditation for entire Laboratory activities (to ensure Sustainability).
Processes – Standard Method (National/International), Validation/Verification, Equipment/Techniques used and Measurement Traceability to SI units.
Infrastructure & Quality Control Resources – Facilities and Environmental Conditions (Innovation for enhancing Good Laboratories Practices) owned by Lab. Use of Certified Reference material, Proficiency Testing Program participation and Inter-Laboratory Comparison and other QC checks.
Customer Complaints, Feedback and Improvement – Diagnosis of the problem (Root Cause Analysis & Quality tools deployed)
Key Results/Satisfaction – Reports, Customer Results, Society Results and Employee Satisfaction. Tangible benefits, intangible benefits or socio economic and environmental benefits
1. Non – disclosure and confidentiality I. The names of the applicants, evaluation and scoring system developed for the assessment process will be regarded as proprietary and kept confidential. Such information shall be made available only to those individuals who will be directly involved in the assessment and administrative process and shall not be disclosed. II. QCI will not disclose the details about the shortlisted/non-shortlisted laboratories at any stage of the assessment. The qualified laboratories will be notified via e-mail/call by the QCI office directly. 2. Any misinterpretation of facts will disqualify the laboratories from Awards. 3. Applications received with incomplete data will not qualify. 4. Any Award applicant and Awardee cannot use the NBQP and QCI logo in anyway that suggests that QCI is affiliated with, sponsors, approves or endorses you, your organization, your websites, your products or your services etc.
QR Code in Test Reports / Calibration Certificates Made Mandatory
Mandatory QR Code in Test Reports issued by Medical Labs – Announcement from NABL
QR Code on the Medical Test Reports Medical laboratories may note that, in a memorandum issued on 13.05.2021 by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Government of India, it is mandatory for travellers flying abroad to carry their negative RT-PCR test report having QR codes linking to the original report.
Medical Laboratories should provide QR code on all test reports issued which can be scanned using any QR scanning application available on mobile / any devices to authenticate and reproduce the test report online. This will prevent the manipulation of test results & the usage of fake test reports.
Laboratories to ensure that all the requirements of ISO 15189, NABL, regulators are met. Authorized test results in a tamper-proof and non-editable test report will build trust in laboratory results.
Mandatory QR Code on the Test Reports issued by Testing Labs / Calibration Certificates issued by Calibration Labs
Labs should provide QR code on all test reports/calibration certificates issued which can be scanned using any QR scanning application available on mobile / any devices to authenticate and reproduce the test report/calibration certificate online.
This will prevent the manipulation of test results/calibration data & the circulation of forged test report/calibration certificate in the market. Interest of the consumer / end user of the product and the reputation /Image of the lab are also protected.
