Biosafety Practices in Different Clinical Laboratories in Karachi, Pakistan
Keywords:
Biosafety, laboratory, practices, KarachiAbstract
Introduction:
In Pakistan the number of diagnostic and research laboratories is increasing in both public andprivate sectors but there is still a lack of awareness regarding biosafety practices among the lab employees.These employees can be technicians, technologists, researchers or even keeping staff who gets exposed directlyor indirectly to a plethora of pathogens daily. The need is to spread awareness regarding the importance offundamental biosafety practices.
Objective:
To determine and compare the level of awareness and implementation regarding biosafety practicesamong different laboratories and their workers in Karachi, Pakistan.
Methodology:
A survey was conducted from 10 different diagnostic laboratories of Karachi, participants wereinterviewed and made to fill out a questionnare.
Result:
In the category of general safety 60% confirmed that they receive a formal biosafety training. 20%of the participants received a safety handbook. Usage of personal protective equipments were 80%.however10% labs provide eye station and emergency shower facilitiy and 60% of the participants confirmed that firestation was not available in their lab. In the category of equipments, 80% of the participants agreed that theirequipments were in working order, 60%of the participants confirmed that the PPM of their equipments werecarried out on regular basis and Back up cold storage was available in only 20% of the laboratories.40% of the participants said that the maintenance of biosafety
Conclusion:
The outcome of our survey confirms a lack of practice and implementation of good biosafetypractices in the clinical laboratories.
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Copyright (c) 2021 Saeed Khan, Fatin Zehra, Noorulaine Maqsood, Maria Zahid, Bilal Ahmed
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