Asia’s first mobile biosafety lab can serve remote areas

Panaji: Asia’s first mobile biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory named Rapid Action Mobile BSL-3 Advanced Augmented Network (RAMBAAN), designed to investigate emerging viral infections, was showcased at the G-20 Health Working Group meeting here.
“The BSL-3 is the first of its kind in Asia and India. It can access the remotest part of our country,” said Dr Rajni Kant, the director of Regional Medical Research Centre (RMRC), Delhi.
The laboratory has an important role in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, Kant said.
The BSL-3 was displayed on Monday to apprise the G20 member countries of India’s growth in the medical field, an official said.
The lab is equipped with a -20 degree and a -80 degree refrigerator, bio-safety cabinets, an automatic ribonucleic acid (RNA) extractor, and a real-time PCR machine.
India has two operational mobile laboratories, one at RMRC, Gorakhpur, catering to the northeastern part of the country. The southern and western areas have access to the laboratory at National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune.
“India has set up laboratories at various institutions across the country and they are capable of handling Level 1 and Level 2 agents,” an official said.
The RAMBAAN mobile laboratory is a significant development in India’s healthcare infrastructure, as it has the potential to save countless lives. The laboratory has a state-of-the-art infrastructure, and its technicians and staff are well-trained to handle and manage infections of varying degrees of intensity.