IPNEWS: The attention of the National Public Health Institute of Liberia (NPHIL) has been drawn to an article published by the Analyst News online on Monday, June 10, 2024, in which it was reported that the National Reference Laboratory has been downgraded to 1-Star by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). The article further stated that over the years, the National Reference Laboratory has been unable to perform according to several international standards set by ISO.
The National Public Health Institute of Liberia wishes to categorically state that the information is misleading and a total misrepresentation of the facts. The National Reference Laboratory (NRL) is going through a stepwise Accreditation process using the WHO SLIPTA checklist which is the required standard for National Public Health Reference Laboratories considering the ISO 15189.
This checklist does not accredit labs but helps to monitor processes and implementation of the Laboratory Quality Management Systems by scoring the lab’s implementation of ISO 15189: 2022 on a five-point scale (1-5) with a star designation. If the lab has achieved 5 stars through internal or external assessments by certified assessors, the lab can now apply to an accrediting body that is ISO certified to Accredit Medical Reference Laboratories.
The National Reference Laboratory (NRL) has not applied to any accrediting body yet but is conducting regular internal and external assessments towards meeting the targets of 5 Stars before it can apply for Accreditation using the ISO 15189: 2022 standard and not ISO/ IEC 17025 and ISO 9001 as stated in the publication. The ISO standard 9001 is for generic quality management systems and ISO 17025 can be applied to any organization laboratories such as animal, Environmental, etc. The ISO 17025 is a specific standard that applies to testing and calibration laboratories.
The National Reference Laboratory ascribes to the ISO 15189: 2022 standard, which is an international quality standard for Medical and Clinical laboratories. This standard sets the requirement for quality management, technical processes, and competence in medical/ public health laboratories. The standard being used by the NRL promotes confidence and high quality in public health laboratory analysis and results generation.
The National Public Health Institute of Liberia wishes to further clarify the misinformation relative to the COVID-19 pandemic testing mentioned in the article that the NRL only used testing kits and methods that were validated and verified by the United States Food and Drugs Agency (US-FDA), European Standard CE, and the World Health Organization (WHO) pre-qualified for testing and diagnostics procedures.
Additionally, the NRL also sought guidance from WHO, the US CDC, Africa CDC, and the West Africa Health Organization (WAHO) for approved or prequalified reagents and devices for testing.
The laboratory was implementing a quality management system and has been enrolled in proficiency testing (PT) for COVID-19 and other testing ( Lassa fever, Yellow Fever, Measles, etc.) which are conducted at the NRL with good scores from PT. The NRL is actively engaged with research collaborators and institutions for knowledge sharing, specialized testing, and exchanges of scientific methodologies.
The National Public Health Institute of Liberia would like to assure the public contrary to the report published by the Analyst Newspaper that the NRL has trained and certified staff in many disciplines and specializations (Microbiology, Parasitology, Medical Lab Sciences, Field Epidemiology, Molecular Biology and Genomic of Infectious diseases, etc.). These staff are trained both locally and internationally and are guided in performance by internationally acceptable standards and procedures.
The NRL remains committed to saving Liberian lives and providing reliable, accurate, and quality-assured results by upholding international best practices and standards.
The National Public Health Institute of Liberia called on the media to double-check information using the elementary formula in journalism of Accuracy, Balance, and Clarity (ABC) in all of its publications. The lab is a nonpolitical setting and we don’t want to encourage politics with scientific work.
