CEBU CITY, Cebu, Philippines – In a move to fast track the development of Cebu’s medical tourism industry, the Department of Trade and Industry in Central Visayas (DTI 7) is pushing for more medical laboratories to get accredited and improve the quality and credibility of local health care services.

“If we want to effectively push Cebu as the ‘Health and Wellness Capita of Asia’ then we must have to start somewhere, beginning with urging clinical laboratories to get accredited with the Department (DTI),” said Asteria Caberte, DTI 7 Director.

Caberte bared DTI’s Philippine Accreditation Office (PAO) already has an accreditation scheme for medical laboratories to assess the quality of services provided by these medical facilities.

Earlier, Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo said an erroneous interpretation of the results and tests would lead to inappropriate treatment, prolonged illness or even death.

“Medical laboratory accreditation will give patients confidence in the medical institution administering laboratory tests as its technical competence complies with ISO 15189:2007, the international standard used for medical laboratory accreditation. Moreover, patients are assured that the personnel of accredited medical laboratories are competent and well trained to perform and interpret tests, provide reliable diagnosis, and conduct appropriate treatment,” Domingo’s statement read.