Dec 10, 2023 Last Updated 9:10 PM, Sep 28, 2023

Accreditation: The Business Advantage

JANAAC has published the Accreditation: the Business Advantage feature in both the Gleaner and Jamaica Observer officially since 2015. The feature provides testimonials from our Accreditation Ambassadors and Conformity Assessment Bodies (CABs) on how accreditation has impacted their success. There is now an appreciation of the significant benefits of using JANAAC-accredited CABs.

Testimonials from our Ambassadors and Former Ministers!

The accreditation of this first food-testing laboratory (the Scientific Research Council) is a significant milestone for Jamaica. We believe that the use of accreditation can help in achieving our national development plan, Vision 2030.
THE HONOURABLE ANTHONY HYLTON, FORMER MINISTER OF INDUSTRY, INVESTMENT AND COMMERCE, THE GLEANER, JANUARY 24, 2013

We now have international recognition and our clients will feel more confident with the service we give to them, and I can see us getting more business as a result of that.
BARBARA HENDRIKS, MANAGING DIRECTOR OF BIOMEDICAL CALEDONIA MEDICAL LABORATORY LTD., THE GLEANER, JUNE 26, 2013

Other laboratories need to get on the road to accreditation as there are many benefits to be derived. Our consumers are becoming more informed and are demanding higher standards from our laboratories...staff morale and teamwork have improved significantly.
DR MAUREEN WILSON, LABORATORY MANAGER, SUGAR INDUSTRY RESEARCH INSTITUTE (SIRI), THE JAMAICA OBSERVER, 2013

The accreditation of the Bureau of Standards Chemistry Laboratory to ISO/IEC 17025 will allow Jamaica to export tested foods to 69 countries across the world without hassle.
THE JAMAICA OBSERVER, MAY 6, 2014

The team of professionals grounded in the culture of maintaining an accredited quality system has built customer confidence in the analyses we deliver this
has been one of the significant factors contributing to the growth experienced in our client base since accreditation. Other areas which the laboratory has seen improvement since
the implementation of our quality management system includes, cost-saving benefits, access to new markets, the implementation of better environmental management practices and an overall increase in business.
ENVIRONMENTAL SOLUTIONS LTD., SEPTEMBER, 2015

The positive feedback of medical practitioners and patients in our services is most encouraging and we are even more committed to providing the best possible laboratory services
 BIOMEDICAL CALEDONIA MEDICAL LABORATORY LTD., NOVEMBER 2015

It (accreditation) has improved SRCs credibility and competence to do our work; ensuring that staff maintains and adheres to certain standards and quality. Our staff
is now more attuned to meeting the needs of our customers and to use standards in their work. This is reinforced with constant monitoring and reviews. We have seen an improved relationship with our suppliers as we ensure that whatever is supplied to us adheres to certain specifications and standards; positively impacting our output and customers.
DR CLIFF RILEY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH COUNCIL (SRC), DECEMBER, 2015

¦wider international recognition of our laboratory was limited. This opportunity (for wider international recognition) only arose with the advent of JANAAC; the regions first recognised accreditation body...
DR ANDRE GORDON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, TECHNOLOGICAL SOLUTIONS LTD. THE GLEANER, JANUARY 13, 2016

Jamaica is now the second country in the English-speak- ing Caribbean to have an internationally accredited laboratory with the full capabilities to test for any type of disease that may pose a threat to public health,
THE GLEANER, MARCH 9, 2016

So whenever there is a possible threat to public health of any kind, we can test for it right here at UWI.
DR WINSTON DE LA HAYE, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, ON THE ACCREDITATION OF THE UWI MICRO-BIOLOGY (VIROLOGY LABORATORY), THE GLEANER, MARCH 9, 2016

This (accreditation) will improve Jamaica™s food safety system, which will help to increase exports through direct overseas investments.
MARJORIE STAIR, PLANNING INSTITUTE OF JAMAICA, THE JAMAICA OBSERVER, JUNE 3, 2016

Accredited lab better positions Jamaica for medical outsourcing, tourism
THE JAMAICA OBSERVER, JUNE 26, 2013

This organisation (JANAAC) is designed to create a level of branding of the Jamaica products that will make us competitive, not only to satisfy the domestic scrutiny of our consumers but to be able to penetrate foreign markets,
THE HONOURABLE KARL SAMUDA, FORMER MINISTER OF INDUSTRY, COMMERCE, AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES, THE GLEANER, JUNE 13, 2016

Gaining accreditation affords us local recognition of our testing competence which means that more laboratories will want to use us as their reference laboratory; we will be able to attract and retain staff and have international recognition for our work. The Ministry of Health can have confidence that the data generated by our laboratory will be useful for developing regulations and policies to safeguard the health and welfare of the population
NATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH LABORATORY, AUGUST 3, 2016

Proud to be the First Medical Lab Accredited in Guyana. Accreditation by the Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation has provided the confidence in our results by the marketplace. This confidence is translated into the uptake of our services by both Guyanese nationals and non-nationals requiring these services. Our customers now take their test reports produced by Eureka Labs back to their doctors (local and overseas) and do not have to go through the trauma or the expense of redoing their blood work. They now have a lab that gives them 100% quality the first time that assists their physicians in better diagnosing their complaints.
SHAWN MANBODH, EUREKA LABORATORIES, INC., THE DAILY OBSERVER, NOVEMBER 2, 2016

Medical Laboratory
Transition Implementation Policy

ILAC, in consultation with ISO, has agreed on a three-year period for medical laboratories that demonstrate conformity to the ISO 15189:2012 standard, to make the transition from the ISO 15189:2012, to the ISO 15189:2022 standard.

The Jamaica National Agency for Accreditation (JANAAC), in keeping with this communique, requires its accredited medical laboratories to make this transition by December 6, 2025. After this date, accreditation to ISO 15189:2012 will no longer be valid.

During this transition period, both revisions of the standard are equally valid and applicable. JANAAC will facilitate the use of internal documents that will feature compliance with both versions of the standard until December 31, 2024.

Medical Laboratories may continue to submit applications for accreditation to the ISO 15189:2012 up to September 30 2023, in which case, initial assessments must be concluded by March 31, 2024.

After September 30, 2023, JANAAC will no longer be accepting applications for ISO 15189:2012 accreditation.

After December 31, 2024, all assessments (initial, re-assessments and interim assessments, including scope extensions) will be conducted using the revised standard, ISO 15189:2022... Read more