About EQAS    
       
 
 
ABOUT CMC-EQAS :

     The attainment of quality service in a laboratory requires a comprehensive Quality Assurance Program which includes both Internal and External quality control material. 

    The Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Christian Medical College, Vellore under the banner of The Association of Clinical Biochemists of India (ACBI) is conducting an External Quality Assessment Scheme (EQAS) since 1978. The Participants represents all the states of India and also Andaman and Nepal. The participating laboratories include teaching and non-teaching hospital laboratories, government as well as private, small hospitals, private clinics and diagnostic centers.   

    It is a twelve month program starting from January to December every year. Those who wish to enroll their laboratories during the middle of a cycle can do so by paying the same registration fee, but those labs who report results for at least six months alone are eligible for the participation certificates at the end of the cycle.

 
The various programs in the scheme includes

    1.Chemistry I - Glucose, Urea,Ccreatinine,T.Bilirubin, T.Protein, Albumin, Calcium, Pphosphorus, Uric acid , T.Cholesterol, Triglyceride, HDL cholesterol, Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, Bicarbonate, AST, ALT, ALP, amylase, Iron and Magnesium.
Lithium*, UIBC*, LDL cholesterol* and D. Bilirubin* (Non accredited)

     2. Chemistry II – Glucose, Urea, Creatinine, T.Bilirubin, T protein, Alumin, Uric acid, Cholesterol and Triglyceride.

     3.Thyroid and Cortisol – Total T4, Free T4, TSH,Total T3 and Cortisol. 
 Free T3* (Non accredited)

     4. HbA1c.

     5. Reproductive Hormones – LH, FSH, Prolactin, Testosterone, beta HCG, Estradiol and Progesterone.

     6. Biochemical Markers for Down’s screening – Alpha Fetoprotein, PAPPA and Free beta HCG. 

     7.Urine Chemistry – Urea, Creatinine, Calcium, Phosphorus, Uric acid, Sodium and Potassium.

     8.Tumor Markers – AFP, BHCG and PSA(Total). 

     9. Urine (Microalbumin & Protein) - Microalbumin and Protein.

     10. Trace Metals* - Copper and Zinc(Non accredited).

     11. Cardiac Markers* - Troponin T, CK-MB Mass and Creatine KInase(Non accredited).


     The PT material is prepared from pooled plasma / whole blood (for A1c) negative for viral checks and obtained from blood bank of the institution.

     Pt material for Urine Chemistry is prepared from healthy voluntary donors from the laboratory.
   
    The basic operation involves preparation of a master pool of human serum as per WHO recommended procedure, dispensing the correct volume into the vials and lyophilization.  Homogeneity and stability checks are done as per the ISO 13528:2015 standards. The lyophilysed vials are sealed, well packed in thick envelops and distributed through courier service or postal service to all the participating laboratories.

    Dispatch of PT material is done once in four months, during the 3 of April, August and December. The laboratories are requested to reconstitute the correct PT item, analyse and enter the results in the web site before the 20th of every month. Any amendments can be made only till the 25th of the month and it should be sent through an e mail only clearly mentioning the lab number and reason for amendment. Once the report is published on the net, no amendment can be made. Evaluation of the report is based on WHO and ISO 13528:2015 recommend expressions such as Robust mean for the assigned value and SDI (Z score) for individual parameters. Details on monthly report and the statistical tools are available on the monthly summary page. Evaluated monthly report is uploaded into the net by 1st Week of the succeeding month.

 
   Each laboratory is assigned a lab number and they are requested to secure the pass word.   

   
The participants are requested not to share or discuss their results with other laboratories before the release of report on to the web site.

    After the completion of the cycle the yearly summary is updated into the web site for individual labs and certificates are sent to the eligible laboratories.

    
The CMC-EQAS providers maintain confidentiality of the participants’ demographics, results, reports or any other information provided by them. 

     
This scheme is fully run by the department of Clinical Biochemistry and none of the components are sub contracted. 

    The EQA program has created awareness among participants and proved to be a valuable exercise and the numbers of laboratories are steadily increasing every year.

     The Chemistry, Thyroid Hormones, Reproductive hormones, HbA1c & Biochemical Markers for Downs screening programmes are accredited by NABL in accordance with the standard ISO/IEC 17043:2010 The participants are requested to contact us for any queries.

         For any Queries, Suggestion, feed back,complaints, appeals Contact us email
: clinqc@cmcvellore.ac.in
      Phone: 0416 – 2283102 (only during working hours – 8.00 am to 4.30 pm during week days and 8.00 am to 12 noon on Saturday).
 
 
 
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