Health Care : Current Reviews

Abstract

A Survey of Biosafety Practices in Clinical Laboratories Personnel from 12 Selected Areas of Karachi, Pakistan

Ahmad S, Ali B, Khan S, Fatima A, Saeed M, Asghar A, Akber SS, Kazmi SU and Rakhshnada B

The objective of this study was to realize the degree of biosafety precautions and measures recorded among different Private Hospitals and Diagnostic labs personnel situated in different areas of Karachi including SITE Area, Orangi Town, North Nazimabad, Nazimabad, New Karachi, Sadar, Malir Cant, Gulshan-iqbal, Gulistan-johar, Tariq road, Quaid Abad and F.B Area in Karachi, Pakistan. One thirty two private hospital based laboratory technicians were selected from all 12 selected areas in Karachi. The laboratory technicians were interviewed then a survey form was completed by the interviewer. The survey was conducted in 3 months duration from May 2017 to July 2017. The total number of members in this study was 132, of which 85 were males and 47 were females. Results presented that 65% of the laboratory technicians did not use any type of PPE, and 35% of the respondents recapped used syringes frequently while 25% recapped occasionally. For avoiding the reuse of syringes, Pakistani governments recommend that they be cut before discarding; however, only 65% of the respondents followed the given procedure. Even though mouth pipetting is considered outdated, 45% of the technicians continue to do so for numerous purposes. Moreover, standard operating procedures were not obtainable in 59.9% of the labs, and accidental records were not maintained in 72.5%. Results of this survey established an absence of awareness about good and proper lab practices and lab biosafety measures amongst lab technicians in Karachi, Pakistan.