Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics honoured with medical laboratory accreditation from College of American

Multi award-winning, dynamic hospital brand, Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC, continues to reach new heights of excellence in the healthcare services sector. Its fully-owned subsidiary Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics (LHD) was recently granted the prestigious accreditation status by the College of American Pathologists (CAP) as recognition for meeting globally-acceptable standards of medical laboratory practices.

Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics has scored another ‘first’, in being the only medical laboratory in Sri Lanka to achieve CAP accreditation, and now joins the 7,000-strong CAP-accredited facilities in the world, endorsing the exceptional quality of services it provides to patients. Incidentally, Lanka Hospital laboratory was the first to be accredited by the Sri Lanka Accreditation Board (SLAB) in 2009 for compliance with ISO 15189 standards for medical laboratories. Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC and Lanka Hospital Diagnostics Chairman Dr. Sarath Paranavitane said: “By receiving this accreditation from the College of American Pathologists, which is the gold standard for international accreditation, Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics has proven its commitment to uplift the standard of quality in diagnostics in order to provide our patients with reliable and precise reports.”

The CAP accreditation was granted in the wake of continued assessment of the laboratory’s performance by CAP over the last couple of years. Strict adherence to guidelines laid down by CAP covering all aspects pertaining to good laboratory practices, with documented evidence of extensive laboratory experimentation to verify the performance of each test on offer, are of prime importance. LHD has obtained an excellent score in the world-wide continuous External Quality Assessment program conducted by CAP for every test in each department. This has enabled LHD to showcase its calibre in being comfortably on par with the developed world. Once accredited, the CAP requires annual renewal and bi-annual inspection by a visiting team of experts to ensure continuity of standards.

Lanka Hospitals Corporation PLC Group Chief Executive Officer Dr. Prasad Medawatte said: “This achievement highlights the continuous improvement and commitment of Lanka Hospital towards international standard patient care by providing accurate laboratory results with state-of-the-art laboratory equipment, and a well-qualified and internationally recognised team of medical laboratory Consultants and technicians, facilities. This accreditation is also a testament to our compliance with safety measures, processes and procedures.”

During the recent on-site inspection, the CAP assessors had the opportunity to meet and question laboratory staff, examine documents on their qualifications and competencies as well as physically inspect and approve the choice of equipment, facilities, safety measures, record-keeping and management as a whole.

Speaking on the subject, Head of Laboratories Dr. Geethani Galagoda said: “We are honoured to be awarded the CAP accreditation, the gold standard of medical laboratory accreditation. It is a testament to the professionalism, high levels of quality management and excellent patient care services provided at Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics for every test on our wide menu of over a thousand tests.”

“Lanka Hospitals Diagnostics is the only private medical laboratory to have a team of full-time consultants heading all departments. They, along with the rest of the staff worked tirelessly to achieve this status,” said Consultant Chemical Pathologist Dr. Saroja Siriwardene. “We at LHD, now gear ourselves to continue to serve, following guidelines and maintaining the required standards at all times.”