The World Accreditation Day (WAD), which is celebrated annually on 09 June, is a global initiative jointly established by the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) and International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) to raise awareness of the importance of accreditation-related activities. The WAD 2015 theme focuses on the role that accreditation plays in delivering health and social care.
The greatest challenge of today is the successful provision of health and social care. With the expanding global population growth and increased life expectancy, the need to provide reassuring, consistent and cost-effective health and social care will grow in its magnitude and complexity.
The health and social care sector is not unique in its goal of striving to deliver a balance of quality, economic, social and environmental needs, ultimately aiming for excellence. Health and social care excellence is driven by the need to provide confidence in the delivery of a competent service to patients, families, regulators and commissioners.
Accreditation within the health and social care sector supports this assurance. It provides an essential tool for healthcare providers to demonstrate that they have undergone a rigorous process to ensure that their patients consistently receive high quality services delivered by competent staff working in safe environments.
For the annual celebration of the World Accreditation Day, the ILAC and IAF invite their national representatives from around the world to mark the occasion with dedicated celebrations.
For the Philippines’ celebration of the World Accreditation Day, the Department of Trade and Industry’s Philippine Accreditation Bureau (DTI-PAB) sets an Orientation on ISO 15189: Medical Laboratories-Requirements for Quality and Competence on 09 June 2015 and invites individuals, organizations and other stakeholders to support and make use of said international standard’s benefits in their business and operations.
The DTI-PAB is the Philippine’s National Accreditation Body. It is an internationally-recognized Multi-Lateral Agreement (MLA) and Mutual Recognition Arrangement (MRA) signatory to the Pacific Accreditation Cooperation/International Accreditation Forum (PAC/IAF) and the Asia-Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation/International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC/ILAC), respectively.
The International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC) is an international cooperation of laboratory and inspection accreditation bodies, while the International Accreditation Forum (IAF) is the world association of Conformity Assessment Bodies interested in certification of organizations in the areas of management systems, products, services, personnel and other similar programmes of certification. ILAC and IAF are formed to help remove technical barriers to trade, both organisations work together and coordinate their efforts to enhance the accreditation and the conformity assessment worldwide.
For more information on World Accreditation Day and on the Orientation on ISO 15189, call DTI-PAB at 751.4707.
Posted By: Edrillan Pasion
