Biorisk Status: A Comparative Assessment of Private and Public Medical Diagnostic Laboratories in Western Kenya

The emergence of highly infectious diseases such as Hepatitis and HIV increasingly drives the importance of health and safety in medical laboratories. This study compared the biosafety and biosecurity concerns between public and private medical diagnostic laboratories in the western part of Kenya. A total of 35 public and 78 private medical diagnostic laboratories were assessed for compliance to biorisk measures using the Kenyan biosafety and biosecurity checklist. Among the surveyed laboratories, the majority (68.1%) were located in the rural areas. Biosafety and biosecurity concerns were observed as follows: nonslip floors and stairs (95.6% of all laboratories surveyed), phlebotomy room (20.4%), hand-washing sinks (71.7%), laboratory access controlled (24.7%), inventory for valuable biological materials (16.8%), portable fire extinguishers (23%), emergency exits (15.9%), issuance of appropriate vaccination (60.2%), presence of a trained biosafety officer (60.2%), availability of equipment SOPs (86.7%), biosafety cabinets (48.7%), color-coded waste disposal bins (15.9%), laboratory waste segregation (50.4%). Private laboratories were more likely than their public counterparts to have premises meeting the building standard requirement (P = .027), chemical-resistant working benches (P = .08), and washable working benches (P = .014). On the contrary, public laboratories were more likely than their private counterparts to have personal protective equipment (P = .006); SOPs on postexposure prophylaxis (PEP) policies (P = .013); and PEP SOPs posted where all staff could read (P = .004). Remarkable deficiencies were noted on attributes of fire prevention and protection, administrative control, and personal protective devices. Enhanced training on biosafety and biosecurity is likely to improve compliance with biorisk codes in Kenya