The Veterinary Services Laboratory which falls under the purview of the Guyana Livestock Development Authority (GLDA) has received recertification for quality assurance from the Guyana National Bureau of Standards (GNBS).
Readers would recall that it was in 2014 that the Ministry of Agriculture commissioned the said lab under GLDA. The authority is tasked with protecting the gains of animal production and genetics through the provision of timely veterinary interventions and minimizing the threat of disease from internal and external sources.
On April 13, 2021, the facility was certified to the National Standard – General Requirements for the Operation of a Laboratory (GYS 170:2009) by the Guyana National Bureau of Standards. Upon maintaining the requirements of the standard, the laboratory was recertified in April 2023 since the certificate is valid for two years. The scope of certification covers Pathology, Serology and Parasitology.
According to the Head of the Laboratory, Dr. Dane Hartley in an interview with the Department of Public Information, the lab provides a range of tests in the areas of Pathology, Histopathology, Serology, Parasitology and molecular including Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR). These tests are conducted for research, surveillance and diagnostic purposes on samples submitted by Veterinarians and other animal health professionals, the GLDA’s genetic farm, the University of Guyana, exporters, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and other institutions.
“The Serology Department conducts antibody tests and those cover a wide range of diseases including Influenza, Newcastle disease, several poultry diseases, classical swine fever, African swine fever and others,” Dr. Hartley disclosed.
Quality Manager Cherie Rampertab noted that certification has boosted the laboratory’s capacity to offer services to exporters. In this regard, the laboratory she explained is working to offer its molecular biology services to exporters of wildlife.
“We definitely provide results that of are quality to our clients and it also puts us in a situation where we are mandated to ensure everything operates according to the Standard. From every form of management which encompasses the entire quality management system, we do have requirements which we have to meet so we’re always at that level where everything is at the minimum standard requirements,” she explained.
Rampertab added that “The GLDA Laboratory is the only Veterinary laboratory in the country, so it is very important for us to provide quality services and results to our clients. Further, it is important for us to ensure that there is quality assurance with not only the procedures but the management, documentation and analyses.”
The National Standard was updated in 2021 to align with international standards, namely the ISO/IEC 17025 standard which addresses General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories and the ISO 15189 which specifies requirements for quality and competence in medical laboratories. Currently, professionals at the GLDA laboratory are working to meet the requirements of the new standard and is looking to increase the lab’s scope of testing to include Molecular Biology.
Following its upgrade to the new standard, the laboratory will commence pursuing accreditation to the ISO/IEC 17025 standard.
