HMC pulmonary care laboratory granted ATS registry certifica… – MENAFN.COM

HMC pulmonary care laboratory granted ATS registry certifica… – MENAFN.COM

(MENAFN - Gulf Times) Hamad Medical Corporation's (HMC) Pulmonary Diagnostic Care Laboratory has achieved the American Thoracic Society (ATS) Registry certification, indicating adherence to the highest international standards of administering pulmonary function tests (PFTs). Chronic respiratory diseases are among the most common non-communicable diseases worldwide, imposing an immense worldwide health burden. Qatar is also seeing higher rates of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, lung cancer, asthma and other respiratory tract infections. The efforts to provide the safest, most effective care to patients has been the impetus for HMC to enhance its Pulmonary Diagnostic Care Laboratory based on internationally recognised standards. The ATS Pulmonary Function Laboratory Registry is an inclusion and acknowledgment programme accepting US and international pulmonary function laboratories that commit to established standards for pulmonary function testing as outlined in the joint ATS/European Respiratory Society (ERS) series of standards for pulmonary function testing. Dr Ahmed al-Mohamed, chairman of the Department of Medicine at HMC, explained the driving force behind his team's efforts to be included in the ATS Registry. He said:"The Department of Medicine has been operating a PFT laboratory for 35 years. We perform around 12, 000 procedures a year at PFT labs in the different HMC facilities. However,