India Gets Its First Biosafety Level-3 Mobile Lab- Here's All You Need To Know About It

India's very-first Biosafety level-3 containment mobile laboratory was officially launched in Nashik on Friday (February 18). As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the mobile laboratory has been put together to investigate brand new and re-emerging viral infections that are highly infectious and of lethal possibility to human beings.

This mobile laboratory will also allow a public health solution to this problem. The mobile lab can be driven around simply to various areas, just like a normal bus.

This mobile laboratory will also be able to access forested and remote areas of India where specifically trained scientists from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) can examine outbreaks using animal and human sources. These activities will also help timely and on-site diagnosis with a quick turnaround time for reporting such outbreaks.

India's First Mobile Lab!

Bharati Pravin Pawar, Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, officially inaugurated the laboratory on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, the Union Minister stated that the Biosafety level-3 mobile laboratory is a noteworthy value addition to the central government's efforts to reinforce healthcare infrastructure through the Pradhan Mantri Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, reported Moneycontrol.

The mobile laboratory has also been built and designed by the ICMR in collaboration with a Mumbai based bio-safety equipment maker named Klenzaids.

Dr Balram Bhargava, DG (ICMR), labelled the mobile laboratory launch as 'historic' and stated that this is also the first Mobile BSL-3 Laboratory of South Asia province.

Furthermore, the DG also recalled samples that had to be transported to the National Institute of Virology, Pune, during the Nipah virus outbreak in Kerala.

What Is The Biosafety Level-3 Mobile Lab?

The Union Health Ministry has claimed that the current infrastructure of BSL-3 laboratories is limited and conditional on transporting samples from far or nearby locations, often resulting in delays in diagnosis. Because of repeated outbreaks of highly contagious pathogens like Zika, Nipah, Avian influenza and now COVID-19, it is vital to detect the emerging pandemics or epidemics at an early stage to allow quick containment and prevent spread.

In order to address this problem, Klenzaids and ICMR joined forces to build and design the country's first Mobile BSL-3 enhanced laboratory. Built at about Rs 25 crores, the BSL-3 enhanced laboratory is a self-sufficient unit with every system and equipment essential for full standalone operation.

As per the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the mobile lab is airtight, bio-decontaminate, access-controlled, biological liquid waste decontamination and equipped with a safe change HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Absorbing) filtration system.

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