Lab Technician Courses After 12th - Check Eligibility, Duration, Top Colleges

Lab Technician course after 12th - Do you love Biology but don't want to study MBBS after 12th? Do you want to be an invaluable part of the medical industry without being a Physician or a Doctor? Through this article we bring to you thorough insights into the world of Medical Laboratory Technology, also known as Clinical Laboratory Science.

Any medical treatment begins only after testing and accurate diagnosis of the disease. On the basis of these test results the doctors suggest a treatment or perform surgeries as required by the patient, making the role of a Medical Lab Technician an extremely crucial one. Without their investigation and analysis doctors cannot proceed with treating the patient. Medical Laboratory Technicians not only need to have comprehensive knowledge of medical and health sciences but also have to be well-versed and updated on the latest technologies and instruments. Hence, pursuing a lab technician course after 12th Science is a good idea for students interested in the health sciences.

Let’s give you an overview of the lab technician courses after 12th.

Lab technician course after 12th - What is Medical Laboratory Technology/ Science

Before we go on to read about the lab technician courses after 12th Science, we need to understand what is Medical Lab Technology, or MLT. MLT is an allied healthcare branch of Science which deals with clinical laboratory investigations for diagnosis of various diseases. It involves analysis of blood samples, other body fluids and tissues for the presence of foreign bodies and abnormalities. Nearly 85% of all medical decisions are based on the outcomes of these clinical investigation reports as no treatment is possible without the proper and accurate diagnosis. There are various MLT courses after 12th which students may take up, we shall discuss them further in the article.

Lab technician course after 12th -Various disciplines of MLT/ MLS

In the modern era of medical science, medical laboratories keep upgrading the existing diagnostic techniques and adopting new hi-tech technologies. With the involvement of special investigations and sophisticated computerized equipment, various disciplines of laboratories are growing day by day. Also, there are various disciplines wherein a laboratory technician discharges his/her duties namely-

• Pathology

• Microbiology

• Clinical Biochemistry

• Blood Bank & Immunohaematology

• Human Anatomy & Physiology

• Pharmacology

• Molecular Medicine

• Forensic Medicine and

• Experimental Medicine

An MLT course after 12th is likely to acquaint students with all these different aspects of Medical Lab Science.

Lab technician course after 12th- Who is a Medical Lab Technician?

“A medical laboratory professional (also referred to as a Medical Laboratory Technologist, a Clinical Laboratory Scientist or Clinical Laboratory Technologist) is a healthcare professional who performs chemical, hematological, immunologic, microscopic and microbiological diagnostic analyses on body fluids such as blood, urine, sputum, stool, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), peritoneal fluid, pericardial fluid, and synovial fluid, as well as other specimens. Medical Laboratory Scientists work in clinical laboratories at hospitals, reference laboratories, biotechnology laboratories and non-clinical industrial labs.”- Model curriculum handbook Medical Laboratory Science, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (Allied Health Section)

Also read- Career as a Laboratory Technician

Let us now look at a few lab technician courses after 12th, which interested students may pursue.

Lab Technician course after 12th Science- Eligibility, duration, and list of top colleges offering lab technician course after 12th

(Note- Data has been collated by Team Careers360)

Lab technician Course after 12th - Bachelor’s in Medical Lab Technology (BMLT)

BMLT/BMLS is a 3-year long programme respectively including 6 months of internship period towards the end. The course aims to help the students acquire all the necessary and crucial skills required to practise as a professional lab technician for instance perform a full range of clinical laboratory tests, make specimen-oriented decisions, develop and evaluate test systems and much more. This is one of the most sought after lab technician courses after 12th Science to pursue.

The course curriculum covers several important subjects namely Human Anatomy & Physiology, Clinical Microbiology, Haematology, Blood Banking, Bacteriology, Histopathology & Cytopathology, Medical Mycology & Virology among many others.

Top colleges: JIPMER, Safdarjung Hospital, Jamia Millia Islamia etc

Lab technician Course after 12th - Diploma in Medical Lab Technology (DMLT)

DMLT is a 2 year long programme including 6 months of internship period. It is a promising MLT course after 12th. The course framework is by and large the same as BMLT with the same objectives and common subjects like Human Anatomy & Physiology, Clinical Microbiology, Haematology etc.

Top colleges: Some of the top colleges offering DMLT after 12th are GGSIPU New Delhi, JIPMER Puducherry, SRM Chennai etc.

Also read- Diploma in Medical Lab Technology

Lab technician course after 12th- Roles and responsibilities of a Medical Lab Technician

The roles and responsibilities of a Medical Lab Technician after completing a lab technician course after 12th Science would be the following-

• Collection of specimens like blood, urine, stool, sputum, semen, tissues, and body fluids for various biochemical, microbiological, pathological, blood banking, haematological investigations etc.

• Accurate diagnosis for proper treatment

• Early disease detection- they make cultures of body fluid and tissue samples to determine the presence of bacteria, virus, fungi etc

• Perform investigations for the purpose of differential diagnosis

• Control the development of contagious diseases

• Perform complex protein and nucleic acid testing on human cell samples

• Collect, type and crossmatch blood; prepare its components for transfusions

• Participate in National eradication programs like Polio, HIV etc

• Medical disaster management

• Maintenance of records and preparation of statistics

• As senior professionals, teaching and training fresh graduates of MLT

• Manufacturing vaccines and antisera like DPT, meningitis, anti-snake venom etc

• Testing and certifying medicines, anti-sera, drugs, reagents etc

• Research work

Lab technician course after 12th- Job prospects

After completing lab technician course after 12th Science, some of the avenues where MLT/MLS professionals are employed are-

• Central and State government hospitals/ health institution

• Private hospitals/ clinics/ health institutions

• Research institutions like CSIR, ICMR, ICAR, BARC, etc

• Autonomous and other bodies like AIIMS, PGI Chandigarh, Red Cross Blood Bank etc.

• Clinical/Diagnostic and research laboratories

At the entry level i.e. after successfully completing the course you can work as a Medical Laboratory Technologist whereas other job profiles post a few years of experience (increasing order of rank) include-

• Technical Officer/ Senior Technical Officer (MLS)/ Chief Technical Officer (MLS)

• Medical Laboratory Scientist/ Deputy Technical Manager/ Technical Manager/Clinical Laboratory Demonstrator

• Assistant Professor/ Associate Professor/ Additional Professor/ Professor

• Deputy Quality Manager/ Quality Manager

• Director Laboratory Services/ HOD

Salary Range- As an entry level professional you can earn anywhere between Rs.25000-35000 per month which goes upto Rs.1.5-2.5 lakhs per month with increase in experience and rank, after having done an MLT course after 12th.

Medical Laboratory Technology has played a very significant role in the advancement of medical sciences in the past few decades and shall continue to add value to this industry and health of a country at large. And with continued and rigorous research, the scope of medical laboratory science is very rewarding both in India and overseas.

For those who are interested, we hope you build a great career for yourself as a medical laboratory technologist and contribute to the field of medical sciences.

Also read- Careers beyond MBBS for PCB students- Interview with Dr. B. Suresh, Vice Chancellor- JSS AHER

Author- The author of this article is Anindita Nandy, who is a Psychologist, with expertise in Career Counselling of high school students.

List of Courses After 12th