Islamabad - Pakistan is the first country in the world which is awarding Halal accreditation to those labs which deal in halal sector.
This was expressed by Rana Tanveer Hussain, Federal Minister for Science and Technology, at the inaugural ceremony of World Accreditation Day, organised by Pakistan National Accreditation Council, a subsidiary organisation of Ministry for Science and Technology.
The World Accreditation Day on 9th June is celebrated by around 90 countries of the world. This year’s theme of World Accreditation Day was “accreditation: supporting the delivery of health and social care” which carries special importance for developing countries like Pakistan where health and social care sectors are striving to deliver services. Highlighting the importance of health care in any country, the minister said the government of Pakistan has approved a project for accreditation of hospitals and health care system to be implemented by PNAC. The hospital accreditation programme will increase the efficiency of hospitals and improve quality of services in hospital, thus ultimately benefiting the users, he added.
The minister urged all producers, manufacturers, all types of regulators, customs departments, exporters to use the services offered by PNAC, which has been created as a requirement of WTO to reduce technical barriers to trade like other developed countries around the world.
In her welcome address, Ismat Gul Khattak, Director General Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC), highlighted the importance of accreditation and its role in the economy of the country. She mentioned that health and social care excellence was driven by the need to provide assurance and confidence to patients, families, regulators and health and social care providers and urged the health care professionals to come forward and get accreditation from PNAC for their labs, diagnostic centres and health care units. “Accreditation is currently voluntary but if made mandatory it can improve tremendously the quality of products and services available in the market,” she added.