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In realizing optimal healthcare for each individual, it is essential to acquire highly reliable clinical test results for each stage of prevention, diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring. For this reason, clinical laboratories in medical institutions are demanding quality assurance of test results and appropriate testing workflows, and there is a growing global need for ISO 15189 accreditation, an international standard for the quality of clinical testing.

 

ISO 15189 requirements for the quality and competence of clinical laboratories require that laboratories objectively assess the level of their testing accuracy by implementing external quality assesments¹ in which test results are compared with those of other medical institutions.

 

How to raise awareness of quality control² methods and spread relevant techniques has become a major issue in many emerging and developing countries, including in Africa, where it is difficult to receive appropriate healthcare due to inadequate medical environments and healthcare systems.

 

In 2014, Sysmex was accredited with ISO/IEC 17025 and ISO/IEC 17043 accreditation programs for calibration laboratories and external quality controls. These accreditations provide international recognition of the quality of Sysmex’s calibration service³ and its external quality assessment program. Using the Caresphere network solution also makes it possible to build a seamless, secure, and globally standardized platform that utilizes IoT and the cloud to link and analyze, in real time, various data managed by laboratory analyzers and laboratory test information systems.

 

The project that has been selected as METI’s Feasibility Study Project on Emerging Business Opportunities in the African Market (AfDx) will utilize the Caresphere network solution, which is deployed globally by Sysmex, for a trial implementation of Caresphere XQC, an application that enables real-time external quality assessments at medical institutions in Ghana, in order to obtain feedback and investigate local needs and issues involved in the use of the service. We aim to solve medical issues and innovate products and services by using the feedback obtained through this project to develop new solutions tailored to the characteristics of the African region and as a stepping stone for the introduction of other Caresphere applications. In addition, by leveraging Sysmex’s expertise in supporting the spread of external quality assessments in Asian countries over the years, and the public-private partnership scheme for this project, we aim to contribute to the improvement of local medical standards by promoting the understanding of external quality assessments, and by developing human resources through operational training provided to the Ghanaian Ministry of Health, as well as medical institutions in Ghana.

 
By helping to standardize and improve the quality of healthcare, Sysmex will deliver peace of mind to customers around the world, including those in developing countries, with the goal of improving the “healthcare journey”⁴ to allow us to continue creating high-value testing and diagnostic technologies that support optimal healthcare for each and every individual.