Invitation Opens for Construction of New Diagnostic-Research Facility with Third-Level Biosafety Laboratory in Torlak

The Ministry of Health has opened the invitation for the submission of bids for the construction of a new diagnostics building with a BSL-3 laboratory at the Institute for Virology, Vaccines and Sera “Torlak”.

Within the “Serbia Emergency Covid-19 Response Project”, financed with the proceeds from the World Bank loan, the Ministry of Health of Serbia plans to build a new facility within Torlak, where all the existing diagnostics laboratories, as well as the new diagnostic laboratory of the 3rd level of biological safety (biosafety level 3 – BSL-3), will be located.

The floor structure of the facility is four floors (including the ground floor) and a basement plus four floors (including the ground floor). The total area of the entire facility is 4,792.02 m2, and BSL-3 will take up 150 m2.

Bids may be submitted by October 19, and more details can be found HERE.

According to the Information about the construction of the diagnostic-research facility with a third-level biosafety laboratory, the construction and the future work at the laboratory will take place in line with the Laboratory Biosafety Manual of the World Health Organization, the Rulebook on Preventive Measures for Safe and Healthy Work Under Exposure to Biological Hazards, the Environmental and Social Standards of the World Bank and all the relevant legal regulations of the Republic of Serbia.

As eKapija has written before, the new building will be raised in Belgrade, within the existing Torlak Institute, at 458 Vojvode Stepe Street.

This will be the first BSL-3 laboratory in Serbia.

– With the construction of a BSL-3 laboratory, the Republic of Serbia is considerably improving the system of control of mass infectious diseases through the implementation of new diagnostics procedures, which could not be carried out in the existing laboratories so far – the document says.

The BSL-3 laboratory will be available not just to the Torlak Institute, whose primarily activity is in the field of virology, but also to other diagnostics and scientific-research institutions in Serbia.

What is a BSL-3 laboratory?

According to international classification, there are four levels of biosafety of microbiology laboratories.

BSL-3 laboratories serve to detect pathogenic microorganisms which carry a high risk for an individual, but a low risk for the community, that is, those which can cause a serious disease if inhaled, such as those which cause tuberculosis, the yellow fever, brucellosis, tularemia and the West Nile fever.

I. Z.

Institut Torlak

Ministarstvo zdravlja Republike Srbije

Svetska Banka-WB Beograd

Institute for Virology Vaccines and Sera Torlak

Ministry of Health

World Bank

Kumodraz

Vojvode Stepe Street

Serbia Emergency Covid 19 Response Project

construction of diagnostics research facility

microbiology laboratories of third level of biosafety

biosafety level 3

BSL 3