During Current Pandemic Covid-19, the professionals of Allied Health Care came up as a Vital part of the Healthcare Sector. These days of pandemic made everyone realize the extreme value of medical Laboratory professionals. Even normal people not connected to the medical field got to know about molecular testing or antigen testing which are used to diagnose Covid-19 and such medical lab professionals played an important role in fighting against Covid -19 by diagnosis ,monitoring and follow up of patients.
Sources:https://www.livemint.com/news/india/cost-of-rt-pcr-test-at-chennai-airport-reduced-check-new-rates-11638938733029.html
To emphasize on the importance and career aspects, Medical Laboratory Technology department organized a webinar which highlighted the future opportunities after opting as s medical laboratory technologist.
Medical laboratory technologist is a profession that deals with clinical testing on human specimens to provide information for diagnosis and further treatment of any disease, as Physicians require information from clinical laboratories to confirm their diagnosis and decide their treatment plan .Medical laboratory technologists are an integral part of the medical profession. These professionals get involved in practical and technical work to aid correct diagnosis and functioning of clinical laboratories.
Future Job Prospects after Medical laboratory is quite vast and one can start working in various fields or even can start their own clinical laboratory. Due to the privatization, there are so many Private hospitals ,blood banks, nursing homes, Pathology laboratories, pharmaceuticals and chemical industries ,biotechnology companies, veterinary clinics, reference laboratories, fertility clinics, research and technical institutions, cosmetics and food industry, thus opening job opportunities in all of these forte. So, the demand for laboratory technologist is on the upswing.
Sources: https://www.stgeorges.nhs.uk/service/diagnostic-services/blood-test/
Different Job Roles
There are various departments where medical laboratory technologists can work in a clinical laboratory.
- Phlebotomist: – Phlebotomists are the one who draw the blood sample from the patient. They can work as remote Phlebotomists as well.
- Blood bank Technologist:- Technologists in Blood banks determine the correct blood group and do cross matching and separation of blood components for transfusion.
- Hematotechnologist:- In the hematology department ,they specializes the gathering and test on blood samples like CBC,Peripheral blood smear, coagulation profile.
- Biochemistry technologist:- In the Biochemistry Department ,chemical analysis of various body fluids like serum, or urine are done. They also use analyzers to work on these tests.
- Microbiologist:- In microbiology ,technologists do study on different microbes like bacteria ,virus and fungi .They also assist in determining correct dosage of antibiotics for departments of various diseases by performing antibiotic susceptibility testing.
- Molecular biology department is currently the busiest department due to cases of Covid specimens for RT-PCR testing which is the most accurate test for Covid diagnosis.
- Histopathology Technologist:-Technologists working in the Histopathology department prepare thin samples of body tissues to be examined by a pathologist using a microscope. The samples are then checked for signs of disease with the use of dyes and other chemicals. They work in a close collaboration with pathologists for identifications of infected tissues.
- Entrepreneurship:- After completing their course ,the professional can open his or her own lab too thus strengthening the economy by working as an independent identity.
Future Postgraduate Prospectus for medical laboratory technologists are not only limited to laboratory fields as they can specialize in different majors like clinical research, hospitality management or one can specialize in any of their well liked departments like microbiology ,biochemistry, hematology or they can also join educational institutions after post-graduation.
Sushant University, one of the best universities in Delhi-NCR, offers the MLT course.
Medical laboratory technology is a vast field with various specializations to choose and work on. And now with people knowing its need after witnessing Covid pandemic it will now considered as an integral part of the healthcare system.
