SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to another episode of the ACRN Health Podcast. I'm your host, Wilfred Kurupira. And today we have a very special episode where we want to talk about an important milestone in ACRN's history. And this is the ideal CAP accreditation. Now, for those who may not know, CAP stands for College of American Pathologists. This institution, the accreditation is considered the gold standard in lab quality worldwide. And to have an African research lab pursue and achieve this level of recognition is quite a big deal. It takes many years of preparation, uh, discipline and systems building, and a long-term commitment to meeting uh international standards. So I'm sitting down with the team that was behind this most uh significant milestone uh for the ACRAN today. So welcome to another episode of the ACRM Health Podcast, and I'm your host, Wilfred Kulpin. Today we have a very special episode. We are sitting with a team behind one of the most significant milestones in the organization's history. And this is our lab's journey towards accreditation. So normally what I do is I introduce the guests, but today, because it's a special day, it's their day, I'll allow them to introduce themselves. So um please go ahead and introduce yourself.

SPEAKER_03 1:44

Thank you so much, Walfred. Um my name is Denise Chihuahua. Um working at IDR, obviously I have the associate scientist. I have about eight years experience working in a medical diagnostic space, specializing in things to do with diagnostics, that's the microbiology, phosphorus, etc.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

Great. Thanks, Denise. Uh, over to you.

SPEAKER_03 2:13

Uh thank you, all friends. Um, my name is Taku Zamagwaku. I'm the laboratory manager at Effectious Disney Research Lab and GRL. Um, I have about five years' experience in the medical lab space, and I have a background in biochemistry and biotechnology. Thank you. Thanks, and finally.

SPEAKER_01 2:33

Thank you, Rolf. Uh, my name is Marvel Sweney. I'm the medical lab scientist. I'm the college works at IGRIL. Well, I'm very passionate about quality management systems. I think I've spent the great part of my career in QMS, which I think to date is about 12 years now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:50

Love me. Thank you all for joining us on this podcast. And uh maybe to start and to give our viewers and listeners a perspective, I'll start with you, uh Taku. What is IGRL and what is its link with uh ACI?

SPEAKER_03 3:10

Thank you, Wilfred. So IGRL is a bicep level two. Um, I guess in the world of medical lab scientists, those who understand what BIOS level levels are, what it means to say biasef levels, but um it's a BICF level two lab, which has been in existence since 2012. So I'll say it's been existence for what 14 years now. Yes. And um it has been involved in infectious diseases research um across different uh infectious diseases, and in terms of ACRIN, it is a research lab for ACRIN. And also just to add on, IDRI is also a diagnostic lab, so um it has both diagnostic and research uh lab surfaces.

SPEAKER_00 3:54

Okay, so maybe you talk about biceps to level two. What's the highest, or is that the highest?

SPEAKER_03 4:02

No, that's not the highest. There's something higher, there's there's something much higher. I think we get to up but bicep level four.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Level four, okay. So okay, so we're helping.

SPEAKER_03 4:11

It is yeah, so we're halfway there.

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Okay, so I want to come to the issue that we're discussing today, which is uh accreditation. I mean marvelous. I want to come to you. What is this accreditation that we're talking about? And why is it such a big deal?

SPEAKER_01 4:35

So accreditation. This is uh this is a big deal considering that it's a CAP accreditation. So CAB is college of uh making marketages. This is one of the most rigorous application coaches throughout the throughout the whole world. So when it comes to Africa, there's about a few countries which are going for accreditation for CAP. Uh so when you talk about CAP, um, it's a very rigorous process. They come in, they look at everything that you do, writing from uh sepal reception, how you handle your samples, how you process your samples, up until you release your results, they look at everything that you're going to be doing. So it's going to be just actually a very rigorous process that they assess how you you perform your test and then they give you an accreditation statement.

SPEAKER_00 5:15

Okay, so the accreditation we can say it shows or demonstrates your capability at that level.

SPEAKER_01 5:22

Uh yeah, it it does. So at the definition of uh accreditation, it brings also the aspects of competence, but competence. So it's it's a it's a way of showing how competent our staff are. So when you're accredited, it shows that the lab is very competent. So it also gives an aspect of comp of confidence to say when the assessors come and assess you, and they they say that you are accredited, it shows that they put confidence in the work that you do, right and you have trust with you, so they can say they can simply trust to say, Oh, okay, I can get my cell post it at IDR because you've shown that competence and you've shown you've demonstrated that ability to perform the test is exalted.

SPEAKER_00 5:57

Wonderful. So I want to come back to you, taco. You said I dR has around from 2012, but accreditation is happening now. And and and person may wonder, you know, why it took so long. But I want I'm sure there is a story behind that journey. If you can just take us through that journey and even some of the early days, uh, what did they look like?

SPEAKER_03 6:19

So, yeah, I dare have been around for almost 14 years, and the vision of accreditation has always been there. Um, as the lab was growing, as the trajectory was happening, all the different studies, um, from the I guess from the low-level kind of studies, chemical research, and going up clinical trials, you then understand that you know the level of quality and the level of output that you need to go out there and say, we have done this research, it is to have the evidence as well. And this is what this accreditation speaks to. So uh for IDRL in 2024, that's where the decision was made to say, I think we are going to go amongst all the other accreditation boards, we are going to pick this uh accreditation board. But the I was saying a thing about CAP, which I think made us uh cyclists was because CAP does not allow you to select a department to accredit. So you find that most African labs that are accredited, they decide to be accredited in the chemistry department, the hematology department, the molecular department. But with CAP, they do not allow you to do that. You have to accredit every part of the lab. So you imagine the amount of work that went into between each and every department that is in the lab. You do not have to choose, you don't have the the platform to choose, you actually just have to make sure each and every process in the lab is following the CAP uh standards.

SPEAKER_00 7:44

So 2024 is when the decision is made, or in 2026. What what happened in between that time?

SPEAKER_03 7:54

Um what happened was a lot of work. That's the best way I can say it. Accreditation is a process. It's I guess the application, we can say we put in our application in 2024, but the two years that followed after 2026, it was a lot of work, a lot of dedication, the assessments, the uh competence assessments that Marvels was speaking about, the equipment, making sure that the equipment is the right equipment, is it validated? The processes themselves in the lab, are they following the standards? Are they meeting the CAP standards? And above all, the major project that happened was the infrastructure. Yes. We had to change everything. We had to build a lamp from scratch just to meet the CAP standards because we realized we were falling short from what the structure was uh before, and we had to meet those international standards.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

So so, Marvel, going back to you. This is fully within your your what you do. Walk us through what a a system, a quality management system that is ready for capital accreditation. Walk us, what what does that system look like?

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Okay. So for you to be accredited, you need to have a very robust quality management system. So talk about about four pinners, which are very key to say that you'd be probably established quality management system. So starting document control. So whatever you do, you need to put it in badge just to document it. Just to be you need to document what you do, and you say what you what you do. So the thing with uh accreditation, so when the assistants do visitors, that's what they've been looking out to see. Are you doing what you have documented? Or you know, sometimes the next day do they have uh at least to document what they want to do, but they don't really actually do it. So it's not just about the people with that is there, but it's actually practice to say are they doing what they've documented. So when you talk about document control, we also need to have uh everything properly documented, right? From the policies, the quality policy manual, the laboratory handbooks, the SOP signal procedures, all the little champions that you have, you also need to be controlled. You also need to know who has generated that, uh, we has developed that particular procedure. Uh, we has read those, also who has read that particular document. So we also need to show all the evidence of uh the lifestyle of that document, the history of that document, who generated, is reviewed, who has approved, and who has actually read the document, uh, that document. So that's that's that is the backbone of your quality management system. Moving on to a very key area is also the non-conformance management. How you do you manage your non-conformances? So the thing is, things do happen in the lab. So there will there will be errors, you know, because you're working with gamers, there will be errors, probably one result will be derived, something appears. But what is very important when it comes to uh quality management system is the lab able to pick its own errors and be able to come up with a root cause analysis, which actually pin goes to say, why do you have this problem? And when they do that, they're also able to come up with a corrective action to say, okay, we have this problem, it's emanating from this particular root cause. So we now need to come up with uh measures to ensure that we collect it. And it or it goes beyond just collection images. We also need to put preventive measures to say in the future because it's not going to, it's not going to happen. Um that's the second thing. The third thing is also, which is very clear what we've been mentioning in the definition of accreditation, is the competence assessment which we have people who are informed. So accreditation that I'm saying, it's how you demonstrate you're able to carry out a uh a particular case, you put that demonstrate like a page to say, yeah, you're confident that this result that you're producing, a TB positive. That person is looked at the microscope and seen the TB. It's actually competent, is able to identify TB. So this is very key. QMS, you also need to have people who are properly trained, they have been properly uh they did their competence assessment, someone comes in as CSDC, as a person able to carry out the competence assessment as is expected. So those are the three pillars of uh uh the three pillars that are that are important in QNS. And lastly, very important is also the self-inspection. You know, you also need to relocate your quality management system as your own self to say do you have all the documents, do all the people uh deemed competent, are the competence records okay, is an uncomfortable management being probably done. And we also need to have that self-inspection, which is very, very key. Because considering when we look at uh CAP accreditation, uh, it goes beyond just the ISO 1 type 1 standard. They have their own CAP checklist that they develop, and they also want us to see if we meet their own requirements. And when you're doing a self-inspection, you're actually looking at uh see the requirement for CAP, what do you have in place? What evidence do you have? Uh, there's a blade of a gap, would you address it? And then um have your system before that properly. So yeah, I'm in that show that's there are all other things that we talk about that was a big fall to the initiative at this point.

SPEAKER_00 12:41

And I'll come back to you, but if Denise, I haven't forgotten about you. Uh so Taku mentioned that um sort of building you know the lab, this whole process, and Marvel's has done a wonderful job to kind of give us enough of the quality management system, but I want to make it a bit more practical, the day-to-day. What does it actually mean? Uh, because a lot of what he spoke about to me sounds like it is that's what I'm expecting. But in a lab, but on a day-to-day, um, you know, you're on the bench. What does this actually mean? And you know, the quality management systems that is is describing on a day-to-day, on the bench. How does that play out? Can you can you walk us through that?

SPEAKER_03 13:32

Okay, so you know what it does is that it's it removes that mentality that you can never do a plug and play with a machine. Okay. Wait, it's your machine and then you just run it. You know, it means that um there's a the whole element of quality that you're now infusing on a day-to-day basis. Uh, for example, Tapo did mention a little bit on verification and validation of machines. It means that all our assets, we've made sure that we've verified what the manufacturer claims about that machine. We're not just getting a machine from whoever and then just saying, ah, this machine can run chemistry and then just use it. Um, we even go now a step further in doing our controls as per necessity. Uh daily, weekly, whatever the necessity is based with that machine or that instrument that we're using. And um, these controls are very literally a control is just checking that is my machine in the correct check? Or my machine really reproduces exactly that is the condition of the patient. So we run these now as the necessity. We also verify this machine, the sorry these controls, and we make sure that they're reviewed every day. So there's literally a check and balance on everything that we do now in terms of uh controls and quality. And then we come to issues to do with uh EQA. So we need to understand that EQA is sorry, we would have you finished.

SPEAKER_00 15:05

Yes, I'll be asking what is that?

SPEAKER_03 15:08

So EQA is uh external quality assurance. Okay, um, this is from when you break down the word external quality assessment, is literally getting an external body, bringing in a sample that you don't know the value, and then you are running it. Okay, yeah. So they would then do a comparison of what is expected and what you have got. Okay. So we for I think it was a bit rigorous because we're not just using any always, okay. We're actually not just using any external uh body, external assessment body, we're using CAP.

SPEAKER_02 15:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 15:44

Yeah. So CAP, meaning to say that CAP has been monitoring throughout how we uh run our samples in a day-to-day because they already have a check to understand that if we are to give them uh a hematology sample, they can reproduce what is expected. So those are some of the checks, there's another check that we have, and then we come to um sample handling in itself. Okay, it means that um there's a very important aspect of the lab that is the pre-analytical um aspect.

SPEAKER_02 16:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 16:19

Um, where you know we are not the ones that breed uh these samples. We're getting the samples from uh nurses, from doctors, etc. etc. So on a day-to-day, we're no longer ignoring minor things in terms of our space uh sample handling. That is to say, um, when a sample is brought to a lab and then there are particular temperatures that is supposed to come to the lab, we now check it to the T. To say, is it within that uh range? Because we now know or understand that that minor change in temperature will affect the results completely and throughout the whole cycle. So it's really uh on a day-to-day, we are now more you know well-rounded and we understand the importance of accuracy and uh little checks, right? So that we know that our results are reproducible, they are you know, a good standard that's you know that can be uh that's yeah, of a good standard, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:25

Sounds like you guys just got more thorough if you were thorough before.

SPEAKER_01 17:31

Yeah, keeping it thorough, but walk me through.

SPEAKER_00 17:34

So I'm still with you, Denise. The cap inspectors or creatures, what do you call them? Inspectors. We had inspectors, inspectors, inspectors, they are here, uh yeah at your door, so to speak. What's what's what's that feeling like? What's that experience like? Because we also want to take people through kind of what what it actually feels like because it's not like capital big deals, it is when it's yeah. So what does it feel like they're finally there? It's two years post the application. What's the experience?

SPEAKER_03 18:11

Um, have you ever been in a in a moment where you had where the environment is tense, but you have to be calm? You know, you're running a lot of things in your mind, but you have to be calm. Okay, because you like what Tammy said, CAP is not a scope-based uh inspection, it's a well-rounded inspection of everything. So you're not sure what they're gonna pick. Okay, yeah, and you're not sure where they're gonna ride on. But uh on that day, really, um, in as much as it was tense, uh, it just started off as you know, we knew that our first 44 is to walk them to the lab so that they they see um because these are people who don't, you know, uh the lab, and it was actually their first time in Zimbabwe, so they didn't know what to expect. Yes. So we had to walk them through the lab so that they understand what instruments we have in place, um, safety measures that we have put uh in place in our lab. Um this is uh as well as how the infrastructure is like, um, to set up how we have departmentalized the lab, ETC ETC, and then then moved on to the big part, which is them looking into our documentation. Okay, yeah. Uh, where we had to actually reprove what we claimed. Yes, so we're just proving what we were claiming, like okay, you see in this machine, and we say um this is what we do with this machine, so our documentation was supposed to just match exactly what we're claiming.

SPEAKER_00 19:55

Yeah, okay. So this is for you, telling you Tom. What I'm surely you are proud. I mean, this is 2024, 2026. They are there, the inspection is happening. Um, I um I want to presume you're proud. I am now, but was it pride that came through what uh your experience? What is it? Or are you nervous? Netvous excitement.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

It's difference for people to say you're in a tense situation, but you have to remain calm. So I told you it was a nervous moment, but at the same time, it was a very proud moment to say we have come this far. And I think we looked at how much we had prepared okay. The two years, it was very intense, and you can imagine given the the first quarter of this year 2026 as we're preparing now for the final stroke of the yes, there was so much intense preparation, but the nervousness is I have I done enough? Oh have I prepared enough? Um I okay, am I okay to stand toy and say, Yes, we have done this? But I tell you the problem for me where because these researchers do not even want to talk to me, the leg manager, because they know I do have the answers. I know we have the answers based for everything, but they want to talk to the scientists, the people actually on the bench, they want to talk to the people approaching this sample to say, okay, because they're holding the SOP, they are seeing everything, but they want to hear them speaking about it. Yes, and I was so proud to hear even the people in specimen reception answering to those uh questions clearly, confidently, and accurately. Because you may be accurate, but confident, but not accurate. But they were really accurate that even the inspectors came back to me and said, Wow, your team know that they know their thing. Because sometimes you find that the management they are so much involved in developing these SOPs, putting the evidence in place, but not the team behind them. So it really showed that you know we were prepared because everyone was in the mount, in as much as we're nervous, but at the end we came out proud. Well bundle.

SPEAKER_00 22:18

So were you also nervous? Yeah. So it was nervous all around. So I'm going to can come to Marvel's, um, which is what I think everyone wants to know. Okay, so you're nervous, you've prepared for two years. What what do they say? What what what did they finally conclude?

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Okay. I'll say it in one second and we'll cause a big somebody said you are now recommended for accreditation, which I think we need to be sinking. Because this is something we've been preparing for. And it's a lot of work, and you know that these people they're coming from America. They're familiar with what we are doing. The expedition is even much higher than all the other bodies that you can think of. Uh, for them to say that you have been recommended for accreditation. Ah, that was a that was uh that was a good moment for me for us. So yeah, we did go to our recommendation for accreditation. Um yeah, they did they they give us a time period, the time period say they picked a couple of things that we certain deficiencies that they want us to relocate and investigate and come up with certain evidences, come up with adjust certain procedures actually, not really and uh up to power the expectations. So they gave us a time period of about 30 days after the audit, and then our 45 days after that, they uh the wish of the seductive. So this is where we are at the moment. We got our recommendation for accreditation. We have we've already agreed upon the non-comformance that they say. We've adjusted so many subjects that we have done, and uh everybody zone through and uh everything is okay. So we subgregate all those deficiencies in the response today. So it's now up to them for the they're in the 45-day period for us for for them to give us a period for their take short that our accreditation is educated. So this is where we are.

SPEAKER_00 24:11

Wonderful, wonderful news. I don't know. Do you say congratulations? It sounds like it's it's not enough. All the work that was done, it doesn't sound yeah, but I it has to be said congratulations to to you and and and the and the lab team for for uh for that. One of the reasons why we we we we bring these stories to the fore and we tell them, particularly going through the experiences, sometimes when people see that it has been done, they think it's easy. They think you you applied in January of 2026. By June you had your accreditation, and it's it's been yes in the making. But Chakwana come to you to say, okay, so you're recommended for uh accreditation. What does that mean now for uh ITL in particular, but even the broader landscape of clinical research?

SPEAKER_03 25:09

So I think for IGRL um and for ACRN as a whole, it's we work with our heads up high. Because you can imagine now going to present our data in other spaces, even with other institutions we collaborate with. There's confidence in the work that we are now uh keep going out day with, and the results that we produce, people have confidence in that. For so long, I think in Africa we usually just even send samples out there to be processed by other people for us, and then they give us those results because we don't have confidence in our own systems and we haven't gone through this process of accreditation. But I think in clinical research, we are actually now having to be on stakes where people can confidently say, Oh, there is a labor Zimbabwe we can work with. Sponsors can actually be able to confidently give us these uh projects that we are working on and work with us saying, Yes, we know the results that we're going to get from them. They are credible, they are accurate, and they are of high quality. And we can be competitive now. In the world, we are very competitive now. Because anyway, if you talk about accreditation and even keep accreditation itself, you can you can yeah, you can put yourself on the on the shoulder.

SPEAKER_00 26:40

Great. So from your perspective, Sunis, what what what what does this mean and what opportunities does this open within?

SPEAKER_03 26:49

Oh a lot. Um, it really means that you know our results hold the same weight in in comparison to any country um in the world. Um we can safely say any result you get from IDRL, it can be used to diagnose a patient in Hong Kong. That's how big it is, because um we have a standard place. Um it also means that for uh clinical trials as well, um, because we do have the research aspect, means our data is reliable and is accurate. Um it's it's a message to the sponsors to say, uh, okay, what you're getting from IDOL is correct and the data is reliable. There are no shortcuts, there's no uh misinterpretation, the the data is good. Yeah. Um also it's you know Chapo mentioned it a little bit, it means that we stop uh we stop sending our samples elsewhere to for them to run on our behalf. We are now the reference point. Okay. Yeah. We're now the reference point, we're now the standard. Um we're now a reference point. We can collaborate with other lags uh in Zimbabwe or even abroad.

SPEAKER_00 28:12

You know, there's something um I I meant to ask in one of you can take this. So the CAP accreditation is the lab. Are you individually CAP accredited? Does that does that come with no?

SPEAKER_03 28:27

And you think the board themselves and maybe they should think about it. I think one thing that I can maybe uh bring up is after the accreditation, the inspectors that actually said, because this accreditation, um, sorry, the petition inspectors, these are people who are coming from Cape Apedic Labs. Okay, these are lab directors and peers of uh CAP accredited uh kept accredited labs. So they want to say this is how we as people who are also peers who are going to come and do accreditement for other debts. So you can actually then register your own uh people to be part of the inspector's crew, right? Because they are coming from a keep accredited lab. So you can imagine it's coming from someone who is actually doing the work themselves to go and inspect another guy than just an inspector who is prepared for accreditation inspection.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Yeah, so I ask that because it's a much too clean. So you know that I kind of take on the persona of my guest, so you know, I'm in the capital. So I've been crediting myself, I'm capable credit. Well, I'm in a cap-acredited lab, so that's so I'm wondering asking now, and I'll go to you uh in turn. So I'll start with you, Mahmas. The accreditation process. What are the key takeaways and what are the the lessons learned uh from your perspective?

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Okay, so the lessons learned, I think the most important thing is that it's it's not just a milestone, it's a process. It's something that you you're going to be doing uh on a day-to-day basis. It's something that's going to build your culture, it's going to be something for where you think, you're going to be thinking quality in whatever you're going to be doing. Uh, you're going to be thinking of uh how good how good you're going to bring in anything that you do. Your clearness is it good enough? So it goes to to the culture. It's not just uh the ones up thing that you get your certificate, you're done with it, but it's it's something that is that is continuously improving. Yesterday with this point, the following day you are with that point. Um, I'll give an example of uh maybe the 10 around times you're saying in quota critic problem, you're looking at uh 24 hours, 10 around time saying you need 24 hours waiting and getting the results. When it comes to uh what you have learned from there, is this need to be continuous improvement. You need to also to be asking yourself uh wait 24 hours, why can't you move it to 18 hours? Why can't we move it down to eight hours? Why can't we get your results then and there? You know, so this is what then it goes to you to say in everything that you need to be doing is that need to be continuously improving. So it's just um that that's how I take it. That's the takeoff message to say it's just the process how you learn how you continuously improve it.

SPEAKER_00 31:13

Okay, okay. Um, taco from your end, key takeaways from the journey. Uh I hope you run marathons because you have the faces uh for for it. But uh key takeaway, lessons learned.

SPEAKER_03 31:28

I think first things um first things best, invest in the right people, okay, and also invest in your people. Okay. Um we had a team of well trained and well-rounded scientists for this to happen. And once you have that, you're not worried. That's why I think there was a problem. For me, the biggest problem was the scientists themselves speaking about what they do and being part of this installation. So that is, I think, the biggest takeaway for me, take home uh point for me that let's invest in our people because we did invest in our people and it it paid off. It really paid off. Secondly, I think quality is not a one-day process, it is an ongoing process, and we did process um everything based on the quality standards, but uh it doesn't stop today, it continues from the day after the inspection left. We maintained that we improved, as Michael has sitting said, how do we improve our systems from from the basic that we have, how do we become data? And uh lastly, I think documentation is very important in the space of laboratories. I think documentation is one of the most important things. If it's not documented, it's not that. So that was also one of the key things. You may document before the inspection and after the inspection, but after that, continue doing all those things, continue maintaining the quality, continue maintaining uh the procedures so that even going forward, people have more confidence in everything that you do. And this is vectors who also come back again to review our work. So when they come back, they want to see how have you been doing from when we left, uh, from the time we recommended the inspection, and to now, how did you then uh improve your processes? So, yeah, that's that's all my concept.

SPEAKER_00 33:28

Okay, uh, turning to you, Denise. You are yeah, part of how does it feel to be part of a team of superstars? I feel so I'm part of the team too, so I'm a superstar of you. Um, but just turning to you, you know, what are your key takeaways and lessons learned in this whole process?

SPEAKER_03 33:50

Um, I think my biggest key takeaway is that um quality standards are important, not for the sake of certification or for the sake of sounding sophisticated, but they're more important to the participant or to the patient who is the ultimate recipient of the result. Um it, you know, it's it's important in the sense that um whatever disease stage that you're diagnosing, diagnosing, or whatever uh prognosis that that result is going to be used for, there's confidence and there's reliability in that result. So I think that for me that's the biggest key takeaway that um it's not something that we should ever take for granted because it's not ours at the end of the day, it's for those participants and the patients that were dated with so we have the cap accreditation, fantastic system with superstars, you know, uh internationally acclaimed and accredited.

SPEAKER_00 35:04

So we've we've reached that peak. Right. Where do we go? What's what's next? Now start with you, Takum. You've you've you've clowned Mount Everest, you've reached the peak. Now what? What comes next?

SPEAKER_03 35:21

So maintaining accreditation is I guess the most important than actually achieving it. Why not?

SPEAKER_00 35:38

As hard as it is to get it, you're not saying maintaining it.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

Yes, is even because you can imagine the expectation, yes. I the expectation now is because we're going out there, we're now in the competition space, right? And we are calling for sponsors and all these different collaborators to say we have an accurate lab here, but they are coming to then look at our processes going forward, that's why they're maintaining it is very important, and I think that's the core now. Then the achievement we have done that we have it, we have done the part now. It's the process is going forward. How do we maintain it? How do we become better? How do we compete in the different uh spaces? Was already the name to say idea is getting accredited. That's yes, that's it. But we need to prove that we are of quality with all that we do with these research that we are doing, um, the product, the output of these clinical trials right now, it's going to speak to the secretation. But above all, uh, we are also improving our clinical services as IDRM because, as I mentioned, we are also a diagnostic lab. So we want to expand our clinical services so that we reach out to the different doctors, not only clinical methods space, but also the clinical services space, so that doctors can actually access uh these parity um skills that we have. Um, additionally, we are also strengthening our immunogenetics department, okay, where we're doing HMA cycling and also flow cytometry away because we are mostly centered in immunology uh techniques.

SPEAKER_00 37:29

HMA typing, what is that?

SPEAKER_03 37:33

All right, you went like the superstar in in I guess in I would say in a nutshell, flow cytometry, HLA typing, if I would say it in a in a in the nuts in a nutshell, these are immunological techniques that are then used to understand disease progression and also how to easily treat diseases. So we're understanding uh how your body responds to diseases, and then how do we also help other people and even develop vaccines and drugs using those uh different aspects of immunology? So these are key things that we use to understand the disease progression, response to infections, and so forth. So we are very strong in Remagile. I can say that, and we would want to really strengthen it and even offer it as clinical services. As a clinical service, not only for clinical research, but also for clinical services. And so you know for me, people are doing cancer um treatments and so forth, those are kind of things they would be really interested to hear. So that's one of the uh major aspects of what we are trying to do, and also maintaining that accreditation for those immunological aspects, okay, even within even though it's maybe now for research, but even in clinical space, you want it to be quality and accredited um to it.

SPEAKER_00 38:54

Yeah, yeah, I'm I'm not surprised you got the accreditation casual treating HDA exactly. Um coming to you, Marvel. We have uh capitation. Where do we go?

SPEAKER_01 39:11

Yeah, it goes to continuous improvement. Yeah, here you're always looking at yourself to say how business can I give me? How can I be more effective in the way that I give me this? You know, um it it also goes to give me a pull of legs that mean accredited. No, not just before I try to pick off uh a situation where all the labs are that crazy and see you know, you're got a referral point to your validation, you need to compare with someone if your machine is performing very well. Who are you going to go to? Oh, for now they've generally become not just IGRIL. We also need to have that new complex that have been accredited, that if the action is really up there, you know, if you if you need inspections like tackle the measuring, uh compare you're giving someone going to another lab to access to see how they're before you also need people who are very competent, the people with that exposure to work in a particular lab that is on accredited. So, yeah, it goes to no JSIG, but also anyone that needs also get the accredited.

SPEAKER_00 40:12

Telling you, Denise, um, yeah, I mean, same question. Where do we go from? And in my mind, I'm thinking, how do superstars get more super?

SPEAKER_03 40:23

So, yeah, um, this is now a foundation for us to now advance into more specialized fields. Uh, like tapo was putting it in a nutshell, the HLAs, the immunogenetics, advanced to molecular uh diagnostics. We now have a foundation because we have set the presence to say we can do this. Okay, so the superstars can impact. Um, we can do it. Um, at this was not a base level, but at the level that we were at, we managed to have proven that we care for. So it means that there's room to do that.

SPEAKER_00 41:08

It's like you guys don't have enough work. You want more? That wasn't hard enough. So so you know, I don't know, I'll bring this to conversation to a close and um just allow you. I'll start with you, Mark. That's just to um say some some some final words, some final thoughts uh around everything we've been discussing, capital accreditation lab so stuff like that. Any final takeaway, take-home messages?

SPEAKER_01 41:37

Yeah, our accreditation is it's a process. You need you need the teamwork, not just the peer uh colleagues that should be working with. You need a lot of uh commitment. This one came to my head and say they look at this setup of the soul and the resources that have been put into place. You need that uh management commitment, you need that someone at the top who's standing by you, we need to get this thing done, you need to be uh on the cap accreditation, you need to be on the cape uh if you are screaming, you need that somebody who's there right from the top, you need the teamwork who looking at the same level with you, even those of you who are your support needs, be a gentleman put it with to achieve this appreciation. So it's not just your your own day, but it's the whole team, everyone is involved.

SPEAKER_00 42:16

So, yeah, thank you for checking this. Thanks, Marvel. Um, over to you, Denise. Yeah, final words.

SPEAKER_03 42:24

Uh final words for me. Uh, just to say, uh, on a day-to-day basis, um you need to have the quality bonds. Um, your machines need to be up to par, quality control needs to be done. Um your EQAs, they need to be done. There needs to be someone else who verifies what you do outside of yourself. Um you need to appreciate and be strict on all the processes in the lab, particularly those that you don't actively control, like your cyber collection. Um you need to also be aware of the results that you report, understand your audience per se, but you that the results are ultimately going to help someone. Uh so just make sure that you know on a daily basis, if we and as we understand those little uh nuances, we are just having quality in our vote.

SPEAKER_00 43:29

I'm curious if someone will do account how many times the knee said quality. Um lovely to use a cool, you know. Final message.

SPEAKER_03 43:45

Um, my final message is I Diana, we did it. Yes, we are a research lab in Zimbabwean and we did it. So I think this is a message to Africa as a whole that we can do it as Africans, we can put our levels up high as Africans, and I think this is an opportunity. Um, or if there was a platform for me to go and call for other labs, this is this is this is an opportunity to say, let's do this as Africans, let's reach these milestones, let's push ourselves towards that, and as research led the continent, we can bring more research into our own uh continent and solve our own problems. That's I think that's the the end uh message that I can I can give.

SPEAKER_00 44:37

Couldn't I said it better myself? You read it. Uh thank you so much for your time and congratulations once again on the team for this master and achievement. Um and uh I hope those who are listening, those who are watching, take up the call. They uh invest in the team's assistance, quality. Uh nickname is quality for me. And I think thank you all for tuning in. This has been another episode of the A7 Health Podcast. Until the next time. Thank you for watching.