Medical Laboratories

About IDA Medical Testing Laboratory Accreditation (ISO 15189)

The IDA Laboratory Accreditation Scheme plays an important role in improving the business efficiency and competitiveness of local industries. Administered by the IDA, the scheme accredits laboratories that conduct tests.

The process of accreditation under IDA assesses and recognizes the technical competence and effective management processes of a professional service provider and its staff.

Accreditation Criteria

IDA accredited laboratories and radiology services are set against the best international technical and management system standards of ISO 15189– Particular Requirements for Quality and Competence (for medical laboratories only).

IDA Laboratories accreditation works on a peer assessment basis, whereby laboratories are assessed by technical experts from specific fields of medical testing. These experts come from the industry, government bodies and tertiary institutions.

This is a voluntary scheme that is open to medical laboratories. To date, laboratories that are accredited come from manufacturing firms, research bodies, commercial organizations and government departments.

IDA accreditation is only granted for specific medical tests in specific fields. Laboratories are only allowed to issue endorsed reports for accredited tests.

Benefits

Accreditation will:

• Gain assurance of competence: Using an accredited laboratory allows you peace of mind that the competence of the laboratory engaged for testing of your products complies with international standards.
• Maintain high quality: Testing facilities are guaranteed to preserve global quality standards through regular surveillance visits.
• Minimise your risk: A IDA-accredited laboratory ensures that your product is competently tested, thus avoiding the risk of re-testing and re-working of your products.
• Increase customer buy-in: Using an accredited laboratory will improve your company’s image and gain customers buy-in.

Process

Upon receiving the accreditation application, the secretariat will send a quotation to the laboratory and arrange for a preliminary assessment. This assessment is conducted by a team that comprises IDA staff and a technical assessor, who is from the technical community, either within the country or overseas. When the laboratory has demonstrated compliance with our requirements, it will be recommended for accreditation. Once approved, IDA will grant a certificate of accreditation. The detailed description of the type of assessment is stipulated in IDA-Lab-001, Accreditation Process.

(Note: IDA staff will conduct the Preliminary Assessment, except for the medical testing, in which case a technical assessor will be engaged for the assessment.)

The schematic diagram of the accreditation process is described on side: