DIBRUGARH, April 16 � One of the city�s best known clinical laboratories, Madonna Diagnostic & Research Centre has just been accredited by NABL ((National Accreditation Board for Testing & Calibrating Laboratories), which is a national recognition for any medical clinical laboratory.
Established on November 25, 1987, the lab has been founded by Dr Mrinal Kumar Baruah who passed MBBS as the best Graduate from the Assam Medical College in 1978, obtained his post Graduation in Pathology from the Post Graduation Institute of Medical Education & Research, Chandigarh. After a short stint at the Regional Medical Research Centre (ICMR) and feeling the need for a quality diagnostic centre in Dibrugarh, he decided to open this Centre.
Today, the Centre boasts of world class state of the art equipments which includes Fully Automated Random Access Analysers, Hormone Analysers, Haematology Analysers and HPLC systems, and which are regularly calibrated with traceable controls and calibrators.
Madonna Diagnostic & Research Centre has achieved a milestone in Diagnostic Pathology in the form of NABL accreditation in Clinical Pathology, Clinical Biochemistry and Haematology. National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibrating Laboratories (NABL) under the aegis of the Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India, is an autonomous and authoritative body which gives formal recognition of technical competence of Laboratory practice following ISO 15189:2007 standards which is accepted both nationally and internationally. This is based on third party assessment and certification, and accreditation is given on the basis of the laboratory�s capability to provide accurate and reliable results. With Madonna, Assam today has two other NABL � accredited medical labs, both located in Guwahati.
Dr Baruah explained that the process of NABL accreditation is a lengthy one and that preparation for the same extends for more than one and a half years. A Quality Manual prepared for the purpose is submitted to a Lead Assessor who gives an adequacy report after careful scrutiny and suggests necessary corrective action. A pre-assessment audit by the Lead assessor at site is the next step. Then an assessment team comprising of 3 Technical Assessors from different parts of India sit for 3 days in the Laboratory to assess the working of the Laboratory according to the guidelines laid down in the Quality Manual and depending upon the scope to be assessed. Finally, an Accreditation Committee examines the findings of the Assessment Team and recommends accreditation, which is again subject to periodical surveillance.
Madonna Diagnostic & Research Centre is the first medical lab in Upper Assam to get NABL accreditation, the third in Assam, and the fourth in the whole of North Eastern Region. For the patient and doctors, NABL accreditation means formal recognition of competence, a sound quality assurance system, quality reports backed by world class instruments and reagents, internal and external quality controlled reports in every step of analysis, and customer confidence and satisfaction. Medical diagnostic reports from a NABL accredited laboratory are accepted both nationally and internationally.
