Laboratory services play a crucial role in health care service provision as it helps to determine the presence/ extent of disease and monitor the effectiveness of treatment.  Around 70 percent of all clinical decisions are based on laboratory test results. So, laboratory improvement in public health is the need of the hour.

The Labs for Life Project(L4L) is a pilot partnership initiative between Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), BD and Christian Medical Association of India (CMAI). The key objectives are to improve the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of public health laboratories under MOHFW. Through this collaborative effort, technical assistance for developing laboratory QMS is being provided to 20 public health institutions (both secondary and tertiary) covering 10 districts from 6 states representing all 5 national regions (North, South, East, West and North East) of the country.

The project adopts a systematic multi-dimensional technical approach to ensure quality management systems in the identified public health laboratories, in line with the ISO 15189 standards, the International Standard for Quality and Competence for Medical Laboratories. Quality system requirements like safe sample collection, equipment management, facility management &safety, documentation, instituting error detection mechanisms through quality controls, staff training & development, non-conforming event management, assessments and evaluations are being addressed through the project. In addition to technical support, resource mobilization and advocacy are also important aspects of the project activity.

A system of assessment, capacity building and reassessment as suggested by NHM is being adopted. National Quality Assurance Standard (NQAS) District Hospital Checklist for Laboratory has been employed in the process of assessment.

For details of Project, Resource Material & Videos for Capacity building: http://labsforlife.in/