Haemodialysis unit gets ISO certification |06 November 2015

The Seychelles haemodialysis unit is the first in Africa to introduce and adopt the integrated quality management system comprising the ISO standards – ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 18000.

This group of three standards ensures quality, environment, health and safety and among the world’s most recognised quality standards for the past 50 years.

This is the first step to the unit getting European accreditation.

Ambassador Maurice Loustau-Lalanne, Health Care Agency chief executive Suresh Menon and director for Seychelles Hospital Dr Loren Reginald accepted the three ISO certificates from AMSA Renal Care chief executive Partha Banerjee during a ceremony last night at the Berjaya Beau Vallon Bay Hotel.

During the ceremony, former Minister Peter Sinon, who is a dialysis patient, gave an account of his experience at the unit, saying the service is of a very high level and the staff are well trained.

It was expected that the Seychelles haemodialysis unit would become aninternational accreditation centre 10 months after AMSA Renal Care (Seychelles) Pty Ltd took over the management of the renal care facilities on April 1, 2015. But it took just eight months for it to get the recognition.

Working in close collaboration with the Health Care Agency, AMSA Renal Care (Seychelles) Pty Ltd confirmed it has completed 10,000 dialysis sessions with a zero mortality and zero infection rate till date.

The first private-public partnership in health is creating history in the Seychelles health care system as AMSA Renal Care (Seychelles) Pty Ltd brought major improvements over the past months into the management of renal care and dialysis unit at the Seychelles Hospital.

This is thanks to the introduction of several protocols for infection management. A full-time nephrologist has been stationed at the Victoria and Praslin dialysis centres while medicine used for patients has been lowered by 50%. The Seychelles Hospital has also received holiday patients from France, Italy and South Africa assessing the dialysis facilities.

In July, 31 dialysis unit staff received certificates upon completing their training at a world class Dubai Heart Centre on ‘Basic Life Support’ and ‘Advanced Cardiac Life Support’.

These improvements have been brought to the fore because of the hard work and dedication of the dialysis staff who AMSA has adopted.

Mr Banerjee said AMSA is ready to start another dialysis centre with 10 beds/chairs at the Anse Royale Hospital with state-of-the-art machines and equipment.

“We will now target European accreditation as all our staff are BLS & ACLS trained and our unit is ISO certified. ISO is the prerequisite to get European accreditation,” said Mr Banerjee.

Mr Menon has described it as “another important day in Seychelles’ medical care”.

“Every country in the world looks for quality in a health care system. People of Seychelles deserve no less than the best. The committed workforce of the Health Care Agency has ensured that the first private-public partnership in health care system continues to create history in the Seychelles health care system,” said Mr Menon.

He also thanked the staff of the dialysis centre, Dr Reginald and Amsa’s dedicated medical professionals like Dr Subramaniyam and Dr Mahesh Kumar as well as their team who have given their best to achieve ISO standard within eight months.

Deputised here by the Abu Dhabi government which also pays his salary, Dr Menon told Seychelles NATION in an interview earlier this year that the Seychelles health care system stands to gain a lot from AMSA Renal Care, the world’s leading renal care providers based in Dubai, UAE.

He explained that AMSA Renal Care is providing dialysis sessions to all Seychellois at a capped price of US $200 per session compared to the US $269 the Ministry of Health was paying for every session.

“This is a very good deal under the five-year contract. The government will make a US $69 benefit on every dialysis session but the quality of care will be much better.... Another reason behind the decision to award the contract to AMSA Renal Care is that the ministry forecasted an increase in the number of dialysis patients because of the alarming rate of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases which help to damage the kidney,” said Dr Menon.

Dr Reginald said the haemodialysis centre is the first unit of the Seychelles Hospital to receive ISO accreditation, adding that it has acquired new standards.

He added that it is the vision of the Ministry of Health to have other units reach this same high level, but it will take a long time and will cost a lot.

“We should use the haemodialysis centre as a stepping stone to help the other units reach a higher level,” said Dr Reginald.