Radiation Inspectorate accreditation lauded
Larona Makhaiza | Tuesday June 20, 2023 06:00
On March 21, SADCAS again accredited the National Dosimetry Laboratory under RPI to the ISO 17025 standard. The National Laboratory Dosimetry dates back to 2013 when the laboratory was established and accredited in the same year.
Now 10 years down the line, the lab has been accredited once again for the third time since its establishment. The last accreditation was in 2018. Speaking at the auspicious ceremony held at Gaborone International Finance Park, the minister expressed that what RPI is doing continues to be a commendable effort. “This is a great achievement which resonates well with my ministry’s mission of providing globally competitive services,” Segokgo said.
The minister further stated that being accredited by SADCAS, an entity that covers over 10 countries in Africa, would do greater good to Botswana. “Accreditation of services guarantees and reinforces customer trust in service delivery as in this particular case it also provides comfort to workers as they will be doing their work knowing that their workplaces are safe,” he said. “In addition to providing customers with this service, Botswana is also satisfying its international obligations of ensuring safe use of nuclear technology by ensuring that the regulatory infrastructure for radiation safety is compliant to international standards.”
Incessantly, Segokgo echoed that this is indeed a commendable achievement as this places the laboratory amongst the few labs that are accredited in SADC. “Our laboratory is one of the few accredited laboratories in the region providing the dosimetry services and our competence in this area has not gone unnoticed as other laboratories in the region are requesting benchmarking visits,” he said. Though Segokgo lauded RPI for having their lab accredited for the third time in 10 years, he elucidated that the lab’s duty does not stop here.
“Let it be noted that the ultimate goal of implementing a quality system should not be to meet accreditation requirements but rather to produce accurate and reliable results and to positively impact lives,” he said. Additionally, the minister hopes that RPI will contribute immensely to resuscitating the country’s economy which took a toll from COVID-19.
Meanwhile, SADCAS CEO, Eve Gadzikwa supported Segokgo’s view that what Botswana is doing by always ensuring that its laboratory is accredited would boost its economy. “SADCAS plays a key role in boosting the economies of its members as it is internationally recognised and it also enhances global competitiveness and also has a lot of benefits for its members,” she said.
With the accreditation process proving to be an asset to the country’s fortunes, Segokgo echoed that RPI together with the ministry will make it its mandate to have annual assessments so that the laboratory is always accredited.