Mobile clinic: India’s first Biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) containment mobile laboratory was displayed at the 2nd G20 Health Working Group Meeting at Panaji in Goa on Monday. Termed as Rapid Action Mobile BSL3+ Advanced Augmented Network (RAMBAAN), the mobile clinic initiative is State of the Art Health Infrastructure for Pandemic Preparedness.
According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the mobile laboratory has been set up to investigate newly emerging and re-emerging viral infections that are highly infectious and of lethal potential to human beings. The mobile laboratory provides a public health solution to this problem. It can be simply driven around to various locations, just like a normal bus.
This laboratory will be able to access remote and forested areas of the country where specially trained scientists from ICMR can investigate outbreaks using samples from humans and animal sources. These activities will ensure timely and on-site diagnosis with a rapid turnaround time for reporting these outbreaks.
BSL-3 laboratories to help in diagnosis
The Union Health Ministry said the existing infrastructure of BSL-3 laboratories is fixed and dependent on transporting samples from near and far locations, often leading to delays in diagnosis.
In view of repeated outbreaks of highly infectious pathogens like Nipah, Zika, Avian influenza and now COVID, it is critical to be able to detect emerging epidemics or pandemics at a very early stage to enable quick containment and prevent spread.
UNICEF hails India's mobile clinic initiative
Hailing India's adoption of digital health services and novel methods for ensuring healthcare access in remote areas, a top UNICEF official said lessons learnt from the country on mobile clinics to mitigate transport barriers can be applied to insurgency-prone areas. Speaking to the media, Dr Lakshmi Narasimhan Balaji, Senior Adviser Health, UNICEF-New York, said that India has successfully implemented various mobile health initiatives, including routine immunisation of children.
"These mobile clinics were essential in providing traditional healthcare services in areas where access to healthcare facilities is low due to challenges of geography, climate, or recurring natural disasters. Mobile health clinics are also an effective way of mitigating transport barriers in many communities," Balaji added.
It should be mentioned here that the lab is controlled through an intelligent control automation system, which maintains the working environment under negative air pressure, maintains equipment parameters and records all necessary data.
(With inputs from agencies)
