ISLAMABAD: As complaints have been increasing, Islamabad Healthcare Regulatory Authority (IHRA) has decided to register all the 10 cardiac catheterisation labs in the federal capital to ensure they provided facilities as per international standards.

“We have started visiting the facilities and also directed them to get themselves accredited/registered in a fortnight. Based on minimum score of 90 per cent, we will also be giving them star rating and all this information will be available on our website for people to choose,” IHRA Chief Executive Officer Dr Quaid Saeed told Dawn.

He said almost a year ago the Supreme Court had directed IHRA to look into the standards of the cardiac catheterisation labs.

“There are 10 cardiac catheterisation labs in the federal capital. The labs will be graded on the basis of equipment, qualification of staff, their experience, services, quality of infection control and other facilities. Those getting 90pc points will be declared three star labs. Labs will be declared four-star if they get 95pc points and those getting 100pc points will be declared five-star. Any lab failing to get 90pc points will be sealed,” he said.

All 10 labs to be graded on basis of equipment, qualifications and experience of staff, says CEO

Cardiac catheterisation (also called cardiac cath or coronary angiogram) is an invasive imaging procedure that allows the healthcare provider to evaluate the heart functioning.

They put a catheter (tiny tube) into a blood vessel in the arm or groin and then into coronary arteries. The health providers can use a heart catheterisation to find problems and use other procedures to fix them.

Dr Saeed said that once the labs would be registered, they would have to renew the registration every year.

“Patients will be able to check the best lab from the website of the IHRA before getting an appointment and going for the procedure. Moreover, patients will be requested to write down their observations on the website after visiting the facilities so that it would be counter-checked to ensure if the labs were providing the same facilities which they claim,” he said.

Replying to a question, he said currently data about the number of procedures performed in a year and their success rate was not available but it will soon be maintained by the IHRA.

IHRA is an autonomous health regulatory body enacted under the Islamabad Health Regulation Act 2018. It aims to improve the quality, efficiency and safety of healthcare service delivery by adopting evidence-based regulatory standards for registration and licensing of healthcare establishments, health professionals and equipment besides developing and enforcing minimum standards of safety for patients, healthcare professionals and other staff in healthcare establishments in Islamabad.

According to its website, IHRA is responsible for maintaining a register of all healthcare establishments, setting standards for registration and licensing of healthcare establishments, registering all healthcare establishments, health professionals and equipment and issuing licences for defining the scope and extent of healthcare services to be provided by healthcare establishments.

All healthcare establishments under IHR Act 2018 are required to get registered with IHRA and implement minimum service delivery standards to acquire licence to render health services in the capital territory.

Published in Dawn, March 12th, 2024