Accreditation of laboratories of the Centre Epidemiology and Microbiology NIPH

 

Marie Brůčková

 

The Laboratories of the Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology  (LCEM) of the National Institute of Public Health take the liberty of letting both their colleagues and the public know that they became holders of two more accreditation certificates on February 7, 2005.

 

LCEM include 24 national reference laboratories accredited by the Czech Accreditation Institute according to ČSN EN ISO/IEC 17025 in 2002 as „Test Laboratory No. 1206.4“. After a three-year period with annual supervising interventions of the Czech Accreditation Institute auditors, LCEM were reaccredited for another five-year period on February 7, 2005.

 

On February 7, 2005, LCEM obtained another accreditation certificate from the Czech Accreditation Institute as „Public Health Laboratory No. 8002“ according to ČSN ISO 15189.

With the respective EU standard being in force since May 2004 only, LCEM are the second laboratories accredited in the Czech Republic, after the Reference Cytogenetic Laboratory of the Institute of Hematology and Blood Transfusion whose accreditation gained the attention of the mass media several days earlier.

 

The ČSN ISO 15189 criteria are exacting and to be met, systematic efforts are needed from the laboratories to assume the full responsibility for the tested patient.

 

We are very happy that LCEM met the requirements of both of the standards, hoping that they will keep up the top quality service.

 

Another important factor is international recognition of the Czech Accreditation Institute as the national accreditation authority involved in multilateral agreements within the   International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) and International Accreditation Forum (IAF). This is a crucial aspect from the point of view of the EU activities in progress.

 

RNDr. Marie Brůčková, CSc.

Head, Laboratories of the Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology, National Institute of Public Health

 

 

Figures

 

Figure 1: J.Volf, MD, Ph.D., the director of the National Institute of Public Health, receiving the accreditation documents

 

 

 

Figure 2: Accreditation certificate for Laboratories of

the Centre of Epidemiology and Microbiology according to ČSN EN ISO15189