Lubaga Hospital Laboratory Gets Accredited by SANAS

Uganda Martyrs Hospital Lubaga laboratory has been accredited by the South African National Accreditation System-SANAS becoming one of the few laboratories to get recognised for providing quality services.

The accreditation means  the tests conducted in the laboratory meet the internationally recognised standards and it can now carry out a total of 34 tests in all five categories of Haematology, Microbiology, Clinical chemistry, Immunology and Parasitology. 

Dr. Julius Luyimbazi the Executive director of the hospital says this will promote accurate diagnosis and treatment of patients in a timely manner

“A test that is done in an internationally recognized laboratory on the same sample, should come out the same in all those laboratories anywhere, any time. It’s a way of setting the stage so that we produce the same results with accuracy every time and all the time” Dr. Luyimbazi explained.

He explains that tests conducted in accredited laboratories like Lubaga hospital, gives timely and accurate diagnosis of disease. It saves the patient’s time from running to different labs to seek a second opinion through confirmatory tests and you waste less time to start treatment for whatever disease it is.

“It helps to foster a culture of quality and safety. When you have a safety and quality culture very many things have been taken care of. You don’t worry about quality and safety every time you enter a laboratory”  

Currently Lubaga hospital carries out a total of 490,726 laboratory tests annually with 35 staff.

He appealed to the public to be mindful of the laboratories where they seek services, and should ensure that these are in position to offer quality services.

Dr. Luyimbazi applauded the ministry of Health for all its support in the five years during the entire process of accreditation.

To the other health facilities, the Executive Director of the hospital asked them to enlist for international quality accreditation.

Dr. Susan Nabadda, the commissioner National Health Laboratory services, who was the focal person between SANAS and Lubaga hospital ,   revealed that the ministry of Health is  planning to have 186 laboratories both public and privately owned, accredited internationally by the year 2030.

She  noted that so far Uganda has only 53 internationally accredited laboratories.

“We know that when we have a well-functioning lab that produces quality results, we ensure that the patient is treated in a timely manner, and hence the patient will leave the hospital very first. We are glad as the ministry of health the Lubaga hospital has taken this step to have its laboratory accredited so that  it produces quality results that will help us have targeted treatment for our patients” she averred.

According to Dr.  Nabbadda the ministry of health prioritizes lab services which is why a laboratory policy was established in 2009 to strengthen all laboratory services in both public and private entities.

“We currently know that the Public labs cannot afford to cater for all the services that we need. We know almost 40% of our patients first seek care from private services. That’s why we treasure the support that the private labs give us, and that’s why we partner with them to make sure that they actually offer quality service” stated Dr. Nabadda.

Dr. Alex Kiseka the laboratory manager at Lubaga hospital explained that the process of accreditation started way back in 2016. In December 2021 a team from SANAS flew into the country to review the progress of the laboratory works and later recommended it for accreditation.

This has finally happened when   the hospital received its SANAS accreditation certificate, which has been described as a milestone achievement for the Catholic faith based hospital.