The National Tuberculosis Leprosy and Lung Disease Unit (NTLD -Unit) was awarded ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management Certification at a colourful ceremony held on December 17, 2013 at the Kenyatta National Hospital Grounds.
The Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Health, Professor Fred H K Segor, presided over the certification ceremony that was attended by over 100 guests from the Ministry of Health and partner organisations.
Speaking at the Ceremony, Prof Segor said, “This is a very important achievement as we celebrate Kenya at 50 years and I wish to applaud the unit for this pertinent achievement. I urge the entire Ministry to embrace quality Management system in services provision.” he added.
Prof Segor was accompanied by Dr Joseph Sitienei, Head of the Division of Communicable Disease Prevention and Control, Dr Jackson Kioko, Head of the NTLD -Unit, Dr Pacifica Onyancha , Head of Quality Assurance and Regulations Nairobi and Dr Martin Sirengo, Head, National AIDS and STI Control Program (NASCOP).
In his congratulatory remarks, Dr Sitienei reiterated the unit’s commitment to quality and promised to provide the necessary support, human and logistic resources to ensure quality services are provided and continuously improved.
Dr Jackson Kioko, Head of the NTLD -Unit also emphasized that the unit was committed to achieving customer satisfaction by providing quality policies, high standards, ensuring adequate resources, uninterrupted supply of commodities, effective supportive supervision and coordination, effective monitoring and evaluation in the control of Leprosy, TB and Lung disease in line with international and local strategies.
A key and recurring message at the event was that the ISO 9001:2008 certification was just the beginning and the unit still needed continue providing quality services and improving on all aspects to meet international standards and exceed customer expectations.
The USAID funded Tuberculosis Accelerated Response Care (TB ARC) team was also in attendance led by the Chief of Party, Dr Samuel Kinyanjui. Dr Kinyanjui congratulated the NTLD -Unit for attaining a great milestone and looked forward to working with the newly ISO Certified unit to reduce the TB burden in Kenya.
Tuberculosis Accelerated Response Care works closely with NTLD -Unit to expand access to quality-assured TB services in all Counties and for all forms of TB, through the identification and implementation of evidence-based intervention.
The leadership role of the National Tuberculosis Leprosy and Lung Disease Unit (NTLD -Unit) in collaboration with development partners has seen Kenya recognized as the first country in Africa to achieve WHO global targets of detecting 70% and treating 85% of these TB cases successfully.
Now that the unit has embraced the ISO quality management system, there is more optimism that the improved quality systems will go a longer way in reducing the Tuberculosis Disease burden in Kenya.
This launch was supported by USAID through the Tuberculosis Accelerated Response Care activity among other partners.