LABORATORIES HANDLING SARS CORONA VIRUS

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LABORATORIES HANDLING SARS CORONA VIRUS: 18.

Dr Lily Neo asked the Acting Minister for Health (a) how many of our laboratories are still handling the SARS Corona Virus; (b) whether these laboratories are adopting strict standards of biological safety; and (c) are they audited regularly for compliance with biological safety standards.

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Laboratories which intend to store or handle SARS Corona virus must get prior approval from the Ministry of Health. There is therefore a list of approved laboratories for the handling of SARS virus.

The work carried out in these laboratories can be classified into three categories.

First, research involving live SARS Corona virus. Live SARS viral stocks are highly infectious. Currently, only two designated Biosafety Level (BSL)-3 laboratories are allowed to store, handle or work on live SARS virus. At the moment, both laboratories are not conducting any research work on live SARS virus, although they do store these viral stocks.

Second, diagnostic testing on clinical specimens. Specimens, such as respiratory aspirates and stools from patients suspected of having SARS, are potentially infectious. Such specimens can be processed and tested in BSL-2 diagnostic laboratories, although they have to be carried out using BSL-3 laboratory protocols. Currently only the diagnostic laboratories of three public

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hospitals are allowed to carry out such testing.

Third, research using inactivated SARS materials. Having been inactivated, these materials are no longer infectious. A total of 14 laboratories in seven institutions have been approved under this category, but only 11 laboratories in five institutions are currently doing such research.

There are international biosafety guidelines governing laboratory protocols, issued by the World Health Organisation and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The approved laboratories are required to comply with these standards

strictly.

To ensure compliance, the laboratories are audited regularly. In fact, one round of audit has just been carried out by the Ministry, jointly with a panel of appointed laboratory experts. All of the approved laboratories were found to be in compliance with the required biosafety standards. The next audit will be done in six months' time.

What I have outlined is the current system implemented after the laboratory acquired SARS-infection incident last year. To give legal backing to the system, my Ministry is in the midst of finalising the legal framework and drafting the legislative changes. They will be introduced in this House in a few months' time, after public consultations. The intent is to go beyond SARS virus to include any other infectious agent of public health concern.

Dr Lily Neo: May I ask the Minister whether we should have a list of high-risk organisms that should be only handled by designated laboratories?

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Yes, indeed, we should. My Ministry, after last year's incident, has set up a national biosafety committee, chaired by the Director of

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Medical Services, Ministry of Health, including the relevant representations from the various agencies. They have formed three technical working committees. And one of the technical working committees is charged with the responsibility of drawing up a shortlist of those biological agents which have public health concern.

Just for interest, of the other two working committees, one is looking at what ought to be our national biosafety standards and guidelines , taking into account international benchmark. And the third committee looks into training requirements, how to ensure that laboratory workers, especially our post-doc students who come in and out of the laboratories, are properly trained so as to avoid any future accident.

The three working committees will soon submit their recommendations to my Ministry and together with this current work of drafting the legal framework, as well as the legislative changes, we will put them together and put up for public consultations. That will be done in a few weeks' time. We can then have a proper debate again in this House.

Dr Lily Neo: May I ask the Minister whether we have a national laboratory safety committee to monitor the biological safety standards of our laboratories? How does the Minister ensure that all laboratory staff receive adequate training in biological safety and that they adopt a culture of safety?

Mr Khaw Boon Wan: Sir, as I have indicated earlier, all this is coordinated by the Ministry of Health. But because laboratories span over various Ministries - there are the Ministry of Education with its academic institutions, the Ministry of the Environment, etc, - the national biosafety committee will have

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representation from all. The national committee, since last year's incident, has administratively taken CDC's standards and/or WHO's standards as our standards. But I think we need to put legal backing to that, and that is what the current exercise is all about.

To assure the Member, the system is in place but I want to do the last missing link, ie, to provide legal backing to it.