Keeping Up with the Times
Valentina
Burambayeva
Head of the
Department of Organizational and Analytical Work; Quality Manager of
the Center
for Sanitary and Epidemiological Expertise, Mangistau region
News
The
Republic of Kazakhstan is in transition
to the World Trade Organization (WTO) accession. Accessing to WTO has
always
been and remains a foreign policy priority for Kazakhstan. As a part of
this
transition, Kazakhstan is identifying new directions for developing and
reforming healthcare disciplines. The goal of this overview is to
provide information
about the work of centers of sanitary and epidemiological expertise to
medical
and public health professionals in various fields. Additionally, the
goal of
this paper is to provide information about international accreditation
and
quality control activities of the centers.
There
are 16 centers of sanitary and epidemiological expertise in the
Republic, 15 of
which have been locally accredited. Implementation of innovation policy
at the
centers for sanitary and epidemiological expertise fueled the process
of
international accreditation. It
is
important to point out that the only center which has an international
accreditation as of September of 2012 is the Astana city center.
The
center for sanitary and epidemiological expertise of Mangistau region
was accredited
in 2010 and gained the status as a test center. The Mangistau test
center
applies previously developed criteria and procedures to estimate
technical
competence. One of the main standard documents used to estimate
competence is
ISO/IEC 17025 from the International Organization for
Standardization/International Electrotechnical Commission, which
assesses the
following factors:
- personnel technical competence
- validation
of testing methods
- efficiency, calibrating test and service of testing
equipment
- testing environment
- selection, processing and transportation of testing samples
- quality provision of testing
and calibration data
The
introduction of a quality management
system was a success. In order to increase the technical competence
level, 29
specialists from the center have been trained and have received
certificates of
compliance.
In
September 2011 and April 2012, the Ministry
of Healthcare of the Republic of Kazakhstan within the framework of the
World
Bank project, component F (“Food Safety Program and World Trade
Organization
accession”), arranged international workshops aimed to train quality
managers to
meet international requirements and standards. Training seminars for
international accreditation provided hands on and methodological
sessions
combined with the dissemination of the comprehensive tutorial
materials.
Regional trip seminars were organized by the center specialists.
Laboratories
of the Republic were
accredited by the National Center for Accreditation (NCA). On October
27, 2010,
NCA signed the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation
Mutual
Recognition Arrangement (ILAC MRA) agreement on mutual international
acceptance
of ILAC standards.
All
accredited testing centers for sanitary and epidemiological expertise
have an
agreement with the National Accreditation Centers regarding the
application of
the Laboratory Combined MRA Mark. It allows for laboratories to apply
this
quality brand where applicable on internationally accepted test
procedures and
measurements. Laboratory test records are issued with the NCA logo and
ILAC MRA
marking. All these procedures are directed to achieve mutual
cooperation with international
organizations as a part of the World Trade Organization accession. The
international
acknowledgement of the national accreditation system will serve as the
basis
for bilateral arrangements between Kazakhstan and its trade partners,
which
will create favorable conditions for entering WTO.