ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL� � �REGULATION AND PRACTICE OF LABORATORY DIAGNOSTIC SERVICES�(THE ROLE OF ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS’ COUNCIL IN REGULATING LABORATORY PROFESSIONALS &THEIR PRACTICE) �Presented by:�Nahabwe Charles Kaahwa�Senior Quality Assurance Officer / Diagnostics Services –AHPC/MOH

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Presentation outline

• Mandate, Vision and mission, functions, composition of council.
• Quality Laboratory services, benefits and roles of AHPC in regard to quality lab services
• What has AHPC done/intends to do in regard to improving quality of lab services
• Possible penalties / sanctions and rewards
• Major achievements, challenges in general
• Way forward.

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Mandate

The Allied Health Professionals Council is a statutory body, established under section 2 of AHP Act Cap. 268 of 1996 (Act of Parliament) to register, license, supervise and regulate the training and practice of Allied health professionals and other related matters in Uganda.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Mandate is achieved through;

• Regulation and control of practice of Allied Health professionals through registration, licensing, Supervision and monitoring of professional practice of the AHPs.

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

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Vision and Mission

Vision:

To be the leading Allied Health Professional regulatory

body to protect society from harmful unethical

professional practices (in the EAC region and beyond)

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Mission:

To regulate, supervise, control and enforce standards of

practice, training and education of Allied Health

Professionals in order to effectively contribute to a healthy

productive life of Ugandans.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

�Functions�

• To supervise the registration and licensing of Allied Health Professionals and publication of the names of registered Allied Health Professionals in the gazette
• To exercise general supervision and control over the Allied Health Professionals
• To regulate the conduct of Allied Health Professionals and to exercise disciplinary control over them

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Functions cont’

• To approve courses of study for Allied Health Professionals
• To approve, supervise and regulate the training Institutes for the different categories of Allied Health Professionals
• To approve the qualifications awarded by the different institutes in respect of the different categories of Allied Health Professionals
• To advise and make recommendations to Government on matters relating to the Allied Health Professionals

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

�Composition of the Council�

The AHP Council consists of the following;

1. A Chairperson who is a Senior Allied health professional appointed by the Minister,

2. A Representative of the Director General of Health Services;

3. The Registrar of AHPC (secretary)

4. The Assistant commissioner of health services responsible for Allied Health professionals.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Composition cont’

• One person representing each of the following

professions;

• 5. Dentistry,
• 6. Pharmacy,
• 7. Clinical Medicine,
• 8. Medical Laboratory Technology,
• 9. Orthopedic Technology,
• 10. Physiotherapy/Occupational Therapy
• 11. Public Health,

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Composition cont’

• 12. Radiography; and;

13. A representative of the Medical and Dental Practitioners Council;

14. A representative of the Nurses and Midwives Council;

15. A representative of NDA

16. One representative of all faculties of medicine of all universities established in Uganda by law.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Advisory Boards

• For purposes of advising the Council on policy and other matters relating to the functions of the Council there shall be a board in respect of each of the Allied Health Professions as follows;
• Dentistry board to cater for Public Health Dental Officers and Dental Technologists
• A Medical Clinical Officers board to cater for Medical Clinical Officers, Anaesthetic Clinical Officers, Ophthalmic Clinical Officers and Psychiatric Clinical officers

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Advisory Boards cont’

(c) A Medical Laboratory Technology board to cater for Laboratory Technologists , Technicians and Assistants

(d)A Pharmacy board to cater for Dispensers

(e) An Orthopedic Board to cater for Orthopedic clinical Officers and Orthopedic technicians

(f) A Physiotherapy Board to cater for Physio and Occupational Therapists

(g) Public Health Board to cater for Environmental Health officers, health inspectors, health assistants and Vector control officers

(h) A Radiography Board to cater for Radiographers

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Organizational Structure

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

National Medical Laboratory Services Policy, 2009 revised 2017

• The policy aims to provide a framework for ensuring that the health laboratory services in Uganda are strengthened so as to adequately support the effective and efficient delivery of the Uganda National Minimum Health Care Package (UNMHCP) to all people in Uganda, as advocated by the National Health Policy

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Roles of Medical Laboratories (across board)

• Routine diagnosis and management of disease conditions
• Health research
• Disease surveillance programs
• The management of disease outbreaks(epidemics / pandemics)
• Forensic investigations

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Poor health laboratory services lead to;

• Inappropriate treatments.
• Chronic ill-health.
• High out-of-pocket expenditures on health care.
• Loss of incomes.
• Loss of confidence in health services.
• High wastage of scarce public resources on ineffective treatments.
• Loss of economic productivity of the population due to chronic illness.
• Loss of lives.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

While well-functioning health laboratory services;

• Provide vital information needed for proper planning and utilization of health resources, more so in resource-limited settings.
• Ensure that patients are treated on the basis of a correct diagnosis rather than only on clinical symptoms.
• Lead to better management of diseases
• Ensure faster recovery
• Lead to less visits to the health facility.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Quality of laboratory services

• Lack of the infrastructure, human resources, equipment, supplies, slight weak regulations and supervision compromise the quality of services delivered at many facilities since most laboratories are associated with private clinics/facilities , thus some laboratories operate without registration of staff or the facilities themselves. This has not been the case with public Laboratories because scrutiny on this has been tight in conjunction with other bodies like service commissions
• Decline in quality has caused loss of trust in the services by both clinicians and patients (laboratory clients).
• For lab services, you decline the quality at your own cost.

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Functioning laboratory in a Private clinic

What has AHPC done/intends to do in regard to improving quality of services in labs?

• Registered / licensed laboratories as per her mandate (Section 31 of AHPC Act for private practice [labs] and the Laboratory Services Policy for both Private and Public)
• Registration has been Categorized in levels and the lowest being level 1 depending on the tests/services offered. (level 3 labs are high tech & manned by reasonably trained personnel in lab techniques in addition to the infrastructure setting).

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

What has AHPC done/intends to do cont’…

• Ensured that laboratories set up have registered and licensed testers (in line with sections 30 & 50 of the AHPC Act)
• AHPC will continue to strongly supervise, regulate and control the practice of these Labs as per her mandate
• AHPC in conjunction with other relevant service delivery bodies like UNHLS/CPHL, UVRI will help to improve quality management system for every laboratory to ensure quality testing services.
• AHPC intends to enforce section 54 of the AHPC act in regards to CPD.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Implementation process

• Work with the DLFPs and DHOs
• Sensitize/train the DLFPs since they are core contact persons in lab services across the country
• Sensitize of stakeholders (through all possible ways)
• Do laboratory survey/mapping– CDC-UVRI tried it out, but districts should also do the same and ascertain how many they have in their respective areas of jurisdiction
• Re-inspection before the renewal of license
• Quality audits (continuous)
• CPD for the professionals to improve & maintain quality e.g. GCLP and refresher courses

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Possible penalties/sanctions

A laboratory that contravenes the legal regulatory provisions is liable to some penalties namely among others;

• Withdrawal of the laboratory operating license/Registration certificate.
• Professional(s) be made to appear before the displinary committee of council which is at the level of a high court as per section 39(1) of the AHPC Act

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Sanctions cont’..

• Suspension of the professional(s) from practice and recommendation for removal from the register for a specific period of time following the displinary committee decision(in line with section 27 of the AHPC Act) , but there is room for Appeal as per section 44 of the same Act.
• A fine of UGX-300,000 per offence committed or to a term of imprisonment not exceeding 3 years or to both as per section 56 of the AHPC Act.

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Possible Rewards

Not cleary defined and may be at the discretion of the Registrar’s office but may include and not limited to;

• Recommendation for recognition and award considerations for exemplary service and compliancy related matters.
• Certificate of good standing for those seeking employment abroad.
• Recommendations for studies, grant awards etc..

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Possible rewards contd’…

• Free legal consultancy services on professional related matters by the counsel to Council (AHPC legal officer)
• Good reports in regards to verification queries raised by different stakeholders.
• Recommendation for CPD provision to other professionals
• Plus many more as may be deemed necessary

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

�Major Council achievements (in general)�

• Secured a council home on Dick Wesune rd–Kiwatule Naalya
• Provided Motor Vehicles to 9 regional offices (Masaka / Central, Mbarara , Jinja , Mbale ,Soroti, Gulu, Fort Portal, Hoima, Kampala Metropolitan and Arua). Council now has a fleet of 14 vehicles and 7 functional motorcycles.
• Enhanced Council secretariat staffing.
• Developed Schemes of service for 15 professions (lab SoS was the first to be passed)
• Developed scopes of practice for 7 professions (all lab cadres currently have scopes of practice apart from Cytotechnologists)
• Finalized and settled out of court the case for environmental health workers association.
• Developed standards of training for BCM and BPH
• Finalized review of Allied Health Professional regulations, 2021
• Finalized the new staffing structure across board
• Developed an e-Licensing Portal.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

� Major Challenges and threats�(in general)�

• Limited funding for Inspection activities
• Inadequate funding from the line Ministry
• Poor culture of compliance among professionals
• Rationalization and merger of gov’t agencies that is not yet very clear which makes projected planning slightly difficult
• Local communities protecting quacks during inspection activities
• Some Cadres have no scopes of practice to differentiate degree and diploma holders.
• Professionals don’t differentiate between the role of a regulatory body and workers union.

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ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

Way forward

• To develop scopes of practice for all allied health professional cadres.
• To keep publishing in the national Gazette all registered and licensed Allied Health Professionals an facilities.
• To publish recognized training institutions for AHPs.
• To crack down illegal practitioners and quacks.
• To partly facilitate CPD meetings organized by professional associations (examples include conferences)

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL

THANK YOU and ANY QUESTIONS in regard to the discussion/presentation??

ALLIED HEALTH PROFESSIONALS COUNCIL